


The Search Begins

by SoaringBallad



Series: Fantasy AU [1]
Category: Prince of Stride: Alternative (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, alchemist!Ayumu, beastmaster!Kaede, dragoon!Tasuku, gunner!Asuma, hunter!Takeru, monk!Hozumi, mystic knight!Riku, prince!Reiji, samurai!Heath, thief!Bantaro, white mage!Shizuma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-27 23:56:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6305440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoaringBallad/pseuds/SoaringBallad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>King Suwa has a mission that needs completed, and many guilds are hoping to complete this mission and claim the great reward. Riku doesn't want to join a guild at first, but he ends up doing so thanks to some weirdo, and with that, the Honan Guild is reborn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OMFGhehehe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OMFGhehehe/gifts).



> A Fantasy AU for Prince of Stride. This is my first fanfiction for Prince of Stride, as I normally write things for Final Fantasy. It should be no surprise then that I am writing a fantasy AU. The tags will be updated a little as I go along, as I haven't completely planned everything out for this story yet, though I have an idea of where I am going.  
> I hope to update as often as I can, and I'm really excited to write this.  
> Please enjoy!

“Don’t forget the flour!” called Riku’s mom after him.

“Okay, mom,” Riku replied.

“And the sugar, and the—”

“Yes, mom,” Riku said exasperated.

“And be—”

“Safe, yes I know. There are a lot of thieves, criminals, and bad people in the world. I get it. I have my sword, I’ll be safe. I’m going now.”

“I know, sweetie, I just worry about you.” Riku, now free of his mother’s fretting, set out into the streets of Tokyo. There were many people out shopping today, as it was the weekly bazaar day. Everyone scuttled to and fro gathering materials, weapons, books, and in Riku’s case, groceries. The blond-haired male headed to the main street and pulled his basket closer to his body. His sword sheath was pressed against his hip, and he adjusted it so it was closer.

There were rumors of people getting attacked and kidnapped in the streets in broad daylight. Riku knew that he should be extra cautious. He kept his eyes low as he weaved his way in-between people, heading to his mother’s favorite shop. The old woman that ran the shop always had fair prices and a good share of information. She would always tell him the latest news from the castle, where the King, ruler of all Japan, lived. Since she was a traveling merchant, she had news from many other cities as well, and would tell him anything she could.

On the way, Riku ran into a girl he knew. “Riku, out running errands for your mother again?” asked the girl. She lived nearby Riku, and her name was Nana. Ever since Riku met her, he adored her like a little sister.

“Yup! It seems like every week she has something keeping her from doing it herself. Not that I really mind though. It’s nice to get out of the house and bakery,” Riku chatted away happily.

“Looks like we’re both on grocery runs,” Nana said, holding up her partially full basket.

“You’re not out here by yourself are you?”

“Well… I am,” Nana admitted. “But only because Ko-chan and Sakura-chan were both really busy!”

“But it’s not safe for you to be out here by yourself!” Riku protested. “But it’s okay now, because I’m here with you.” Riku looped his arm with Nana’s while she giggled at his display.

“I’m glad my knight is here to protect me,” she played along. “Now shall we venture forth into the scary wilderness and scavenge for provisions?” The two of them headed down the street stopping every once and a while at a shop to get something for either of their caretakers, and chatting amicably. While walking along, Riku accidently bumped into someone, knocking them to the ground.

“Oh, hey, I’m really sorry about that, miss,” Riku held his hand out for the girl while Nana picked up the basket the girl had dropped.

“It’s alright, but I’m not a miss,” said the boy standing up. Nana handed him the basket full of weird and disgusting objects such as dead frogs and mysterious colored fluids. The boy thanked her and took it from her.

“Wow, that’s a lot of strange things!” Riku exclaimed, “Are you a potion maker?”

“No, I’m just helping out at a potion making shop. My friend’s parents own the place and they needed somebody to go out and pick some things up. I should really be getting back.”

“Oh, sorry for keeping you,” Nana quickly apologized as the boy left.

“He really looked like a girl at first glance,” Riku said unapologetically.

“Riku, that’s rude!” Nana admonished. The two then resumed their endeavor in the marketplace, making their way to Riku’s mother’s favorite shop.

“Hello Riku, Nana, out doing shopping for your parents?”

“Yeah, my mom wanted me to pick up a ton of stuff. Like ten pounds of flour!” The woman laughed.

“Well I think I have twelve with me, so why don’t you take her a couple extra pounds to keep her happy?”

“But how am I going to carry it home,” Riku groaned. He took the bags of flour and placed them in his basket, teetering sideways from the uneven weight distribution. “It’s so heavy!” he complained as he paid the seller.

“I’m lucky my uncle stocks up a little more often, or doesn’t go through flour as fast as your mom!” Nana purchased some fresh fruits for her uncle’s restaurant.

“So, have you heard anything interesting lately?” Riku asked.

“Oh yes of course! King Suwa has sent out requests for the best guilds in the land to report to the castle for some big mission. Rumor has it, the guild that completes this mission will get two-hundred-thousand pieces of gold.”

“Two-hundred-thousand!?” Nana exclaimed, amazed at the amount. “You could live like the King for that much gold!”

“What is this big mission?” Riku asked.

“No one knows, and no one will know until six days from now, when the guilds gather to hear the King’s big announcement. Apparently he is only accepting guilds with six members, so most of the smaller guilds are scrambling to get new members. It’s a shame Honan’s guild isn’t active anymore.”

“I always did love Honan’s guild. They were always so friendly and they got the job done. It always seem like they had fun, too.  It almost makes me wish girls were allowed to join guilds, I mean, I have always thought it would be fun, and who wouldn’t join a guild in order to get that kind of money.”

“Someone who knew better. Guilds are dangerous, and something could happen. What if you get lost or killed and never come back home to the family that cares about you and needs you,” Riku said, eyes locked to the pavement.

“Riku…” Nana trailed off, suddenly apologetic, “I’m so sorry. I forgot about him for a moment.”

“It’s fine, it’s not like it even matters.” The trio was silent among the noisy streets, absorbed in their own little world for a moment. But soon enough, another customer came by and Riku and Nana thanked the shop keeper before heading back to their own respective homes, with the journey much quieter than the one to the shop.

“I’ll see you soon okay,” Nana said as they reached the point in which the two of them had to go their separate ways.

“Yeah, sure,” Riku said, still lost in thought. Nana was worried about her friend, but she knew there was nothing she could do for him, if he still hadn’t let go after a year.

Riku headed home, not having to push his way through the crowd quite so much as the skies were darkening and many people didn’t want to be caught in the rain. Riku, being one of the people who wanted to get out of the rain before it started, picked up the pace and hurried home. When he got close to the bakery, the rain started to fall, but it didn’t start coming down heavy until he got into the bakery.

“I’m back!” he called to his mom, knowing she was probably in the back of the store, where the kitchens were. He saw his dad at the counter, so he handed him the basket.

“Everything go okay?” his dad asked, slightly worried by Riku’s sullen expression. Riku just shrugged and mumbled that he was going to go upstairs to his room.

Once upstairs, Riku removed his sword, thankful he didn’t have to use it today. His brother’s voice rang in his head saying that he should practice, but Riku ignored it and headed into his room. He sat down at his desk, eyeing the spell books he had, and knowing he should be practicing his spells too, but ignoring that and instead getting up to lay in his bed. He could hear the rain pounding against the roof, and it reminded him of his brother Tomoe.

Tomoe used to go out and practice all the time, even in the rain. He had been part of their hometown guild, the Honan guild. Tomoe used to have Riku practice and spar with him, but Riku had never been able to keep up, leaving him feeling frustrated, and eventually Riku had not wanted to practice at all anymore. He decided that he wanted to work in the bakery like their parents and not join a guild. Tomoe had been disappointed, but didn’t force him to practice anymore, and so Riku didn’t practice. That was until… Riku didn’t even want to think about it anymore. It had been a year ago, after the incident with the Honan Guild.

“Honey, is everything alright?” Riku’s mom asked, hesitantly standing in the doorway.

“Yes,” Riku snapped. He was feeling frustrated. He didn’t know what to do anymore, now that Tomoe was gone. The bakery was doing okay, but sometimes it wasn’t enough. The little things, like the plants, fruits and such that Tomoe had brought back from his hunts that his mom made delicious pastries from, the extra gold that his dad used to fix up the store, and the things he got Riku, like his first sword, were all gone. They were losing business, and his parents were struggling to keep the place running without the extra help.

“You know you can talk to your father and I,” Riku’s mom said, trying to get her son to open up about what he was feeling.

“I know, I’m just tired.”

“Okay then, I’ll let you sleep.” Riku flipped onto his side and closed his eyes. Visions of Tomoe filled his head as he drifted off to sleep.

 

_“Riku, don’t you want to join a guild?” Tomoe asked, smiling at his younger brother. “You always said how much fun you thought they were.”_

_“Not when there are people like you! You make it not any fun anymore. What’s the point in trying when I know you’ll always be better than me?”_

_“I know you have potential. If you would just work harder, you could get really good with your sword! You could easily beat me in a sparring match.”_

_“It’s just not fun anymore.”_

_“Well then, why don’t you do it for Mom and Dad? Don’t you see how much they are struggling?”_

_“But…”_

_“There’s no reason not to anymore, right? I’m gone. You no longer have to compare yourself to me.”_

_“I’ll never be as good as you were though!”_

_“How do you know, until you try?” Tomoe patted his brother once on the head before turning to leave._

_“Don’t leave! Come back. Come back home and help Mom and Dad with the bakery. Come home and be here with us again!”_

_“I’m sorry Riku, but I can’t.”_

 

Riku shot up with a jolt. At some point in time the dream had morphed from a memory into his brother’s ghost visiting him. He looked outside and noticed the sun had gone down. It was some time in the middle of the night. Not feeling sleepy at all, and unsure if he could go back to sleep, Riku got up. He picked up his sword and headed outside behind the bakery.

His parents had set up a little area for Tomoe and Riku to practice their sword fighting back when Tomoe first got into it. Though it hadn’t been used for about a year, everything was still there. Riku walked over to a pole set up in the ground and took a few practice swings before getting a rhythm going. Though he hadn’t practiced for a long time, it still came to him naturally, like he had been working every day.

The motions of his sword came with relative ease, and he felt like he was having fun. It was the first time in a long time that he had fun while practicing with his sword. After a while though, he was drenched with sweat and his muscles were aching. Riku wiped at his brow and sheathed his sword. The sun was starting to come up and the bathhouse would be open soon. He headed inside, and picked up some clothes as well as some gold, just in case.

“Mom, Dad, I’m heading out!”

“Be safe, sweetheart!” his mom called back, once again going into her typical ‘leaving-the-house’ lecture. Riku left before she was done, knowing she probably wasn’t paying much attention, but just rambling.

The streets were near barren at this hour in the morning. The sun was barely up and most people were still asleep. Riku went into the bathhouse, thankful it opened up early in the morning. The place was empty, so he got a whole bath to himself for his hour long soak. It was only when he was getting out that more people started getting in.

Feeling a bit hungry, Riku decided to head to Nana’s father’s restaurant to get breakfast. It was close to the bathhouse, and he wanted to apologize to Nana for the way he had acted the day previous. He went into the restaurant and found it somewhat busy, though he was able to find Nana pretty easily. She liked to help out in her uncle’s restaurant, especially when it was busy.

“Hi Riku, it’s good to see you!” Nana said happily. She was busy cleaning off some tables so that other customers who came in would have a clean table to sit at. After she finished wiping down the table, she motioned for Riku to sit down. “I’ll be back with breakfast, okay?”

“Thanks, Nana.” When Nana came back, she had two full plates of breakfast and sat down to eat with Riku.

“You’re up early today,” Nana commented.

“Yeah, I guess. I woke up really early, and trained a bit this morning.”

“You want to get into shape so you can join a guild and tackle the King’s request?” Nana said jokingly. She knew Riku would sometimes make deliveries to nearby towns, and though they were close, the routes could sometimes be dangerous, so he needed to stay practiced with his sword, but she couldn’t help but tease a little.

“I don’t know. I kind of want to, but at the same time—”

“Excuse me.” Riku and Nana looked over to the boy who had approached their table. He looked to be about their age and was dressed in a traveler’s garb. He had a quiver of arrows on his back and a bow slung around his left shoulder.

“Can I help you?” Nana asked politely. She had been curious about what Riku was about to say, and was a little upset about being interrupted, but this strangers appearance caught her attention. She couldn’t place why exactly though.

“I’m looking for the Honan Guild, and I was wondering if you could take me there,” the boy said simply.

“Well, the Honan Guild isn’t exactly active anymore, so…”

“Can you take me?” He asked. Riku didn’t know if this guy wasn’t paying attention or if he was really just that persistent.

“Um, I guess we can?” Nana said. She knew that despite the guild not being active, they still had a home base at a potion shop not too far from the restaurant. “I think you’ll be disappointed though.”

“It’s fine, let’s go.” The black-haired boy waited for them to get up, and for Nana to tell her uncle she was leaving before setting off. Riku decided to tag along, if for nothing else, then to make sure Nana was safe with this weirdo.

                They first walked in silence, but Nana soon spoke up. “I’m Nana Sakurai, and this is Riku Yagami. It’s nice to meet you.”

                “Takeru Fujiwara.” This guy wasn’t a man of many words.

“So, were you hoping to join the Honan Guild? You look like an adventurer.”

“Yes.”

“Well, like I said before, they aren’t really active anymore, so you may want to look into other guilds.”

“I want to join the Honan Guild, and only the Honan Guild.” Takeru said, with a determined look in his eyes. He looked at Riku. “What about you?”

“I’m not interested in joining any guilds…”

“Are you sure?” Something about the look in his eyes bothered Riku, but he couldn’t tell what it was.

“Yes. I’m don’t really care for fighting or exploring.” Takeru looked like he wanted to say something more, but they had made it to the potion shop. Nana opened the door and the group went in.

“Hello there, how may I help you today?” asked a familiar looking boy.

“You’re the guy I bumped into the other day!” Riku exclaimed loudly.

“He did say he was helping out in a potion shop,” Nana said.

“Yup. So what brings you here? Do you have any aches or pains? Or just stocking up?”

“Actually we’re here because—”

“I want to join the Honan Guild,” Takeru announced. The boy blinked at him surprised.

“You actually want to join?” he laughed a little. “Hey Heath, Ayumu, come out here!” He called into the back. Two boys, supposedly Heath and Ayumu came into the front of the store.

“What is it Hozumi?” the taller boy asked.

“This guy wants to join the Honan Guild!” the one that was presumably Hozumi said. Both boys looked surprised.

“Really?”

“I want the Honan Guild to join in on the King’s mission, and protect the land and serve the people once again.” Takeru said.

“But in order to do that, we need six members!” the green-haired boy spoke up.

“We have six.” Takeru said. Everyone but Takeru looked confused for a second.

“I hate to say this, but we only have three members, and with you, four,” the boy with a mole under his left eye said.

“What about them,” Takeru said, gesturing to Riku and Nana.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Riku exclaimed at the same time Nana protested, “But I’m a girl!”. “I never said I was joining a guild.”

“You have a sword, and I’m assuming you know how to use it, so why not?”

“I’m just not interested, okay?”

“But we need you, and I know deep down some part of you remembers. Some part of you wants to.”

“I’m not joining a guild!” Riku yelled back, not registering in his mind the strangeness of the previous sentence.

“Does no one care about the fact that I can’t because I’m a girl?” Nana asked, still being ignored.

“Hey, hey, calm down, alright? I think this is a little late, but how about introductions. After that, then we can talk about the guild, okay? The name’s Heath Hasekura,” the brunet boy, Heath, said.

“I’m Hozumi Kohinata,” the boy Riku had bumped into the day before said.

“And I’m Ayumu Kadowaki,” the green-haired boy with glasses said.

“Takeru Fujiwara.”

“Nana Sakurai.”

“Riku Yagami.”

“Good. Now, if we wanna go do this mission the King has issued, we have to have a guild with six members. Ever since that incident last year, the guild has just been me, Hozumi, and Ayumu. We would need three more members. Since it’s a four day journey to the castle, if we wanna make it in time to participate, we would need to leave tomorrow.” The group took in Heath’s words silently, all of them thinking about what that would mean.

“Well count me out,” Riku said. “You’ll have to find two other members elsewhere. Come on Nana, let’s go.” Nana didn’t budge from her spot. “Nana?”

“I kind of want to join. I mean, I’m not really allowed to since I’m a girl, but I really have wanted to join a guild.”

“Girls can’t fight in a guild, but that’s not all a guild is. We have to have someone who can find somewhere to sell our loot, or find us quests, and take care of the equipment,” Ayumu said.

“Really? So I could join if I wanted to?”

“We would love for you to be a part of our guild!” Hozumi said with a bright smile on his face.

“Well you would still need one other person,” Riku said, “because I am not joining a guild.”

“Didn’t you say earlier that you wanted to? Back at the restaurant,” Nana asked.

“Well…” Riku didn’t have a good retort for that.

“Fufufufufu,” Ayumu giggled sinister-like. He adjusted his glasses. “I say that this calls for… a sparring match!” The others looked at him like he was a little bit crazy.

“A sparring match?” Takeru asked.

“Yes. It’ll be a one-on-one match between you three and us three. If you win, you’ll be allowed to leave with no obligations. If not, you all join the guild.”

“You know, that’s not a half-bad idea. It’ll be a good way to test their skills,” Heath said.

“I’m game,” said Hozumi.

“Okay,” Takeru said with a shrug. They all looked to Riku.

“I, but, I…”

“Come on Riku,” Nana encouraged.

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Great. Then we’ll have Riku versus Heath and Takeru versus Hozumi.”

“What about you and I, Ayumu?”

“We’ll referee, and make sure no one pulls any foul moves!”

“Alright! Do your best boys!” Nana said positively. Ayumu lead them outside the store and to an empty field many used to practice with their weapons. It was midafternoon now, so there were quite a few people there. They found an empty area and Hozumi and Takeru faced each other.

“All right. Let the match begin!” Ayumu said. Since Takeru couldn’t really fight another person with his bow for a sparring match, the two of them opted to use their fists only in hand-to-hand combat. It was Hozumi’s specialty, so he had the upper hand.

Takeru started the match with fast punches from both the left and right, but Hozumi was able to dodge and counter them easily. He threw in his own punches here and there, but mainly stayed on the defensive for the first part of the match.

“Wow, they are both so fast!” Nana exclaimed.

“No kidding, I can barely keep up,” muttered Riku in awe. A few of the people practicing in the area stopped to watch the match. Not many of them were truly dedicated to mastering combat, so seeing two people spar who were was very impressive.

Both Hozumi and Takeru were starting to lose stamina. Hozumi had gotten a couple good punches in on Takeru’s right side, as well as a roundhouse kick. He had fast, tricky-like moves that were hard to dodge. Takeru on the other hand had stronger punches, and while he might not have gotten many in, they definitely hurt more. Hozumi couldn’t take as many hits and Takeru and was starting to slow more.

“Come on Hozumi!” Ayumu cheered. “Hit him with your Ninja Hell Stab!”

“Don’t kill the boy, Hozumi,” Heath said, worried by Ayumu’s enthusiasm for Hozumi to take Takeru down.

“I know you can do it Takeru!” Nana yelled. “Riku and I believe in you!”

Takeru spared a single glance in their direction before he kneed Hozumi in the midsection, catching him by surprise, and then following it with a sharp kick. Hozumi fell to the ground, and Takeru pinned him down.

“That looks like the end of the match!” Ayumu said. “Now Heath, it’s up to you.”

Heath and Riku would be fighting with wooden swords. Since this was a basic practice match, they didn’t want to use real weapons. Had they really been sparring though, they would have.

“Okay,” said Nana. “If you boys are ready, go!” Riku immediately sprang into action, swinging his sword in fast paced jabs and catching Heath by surprise with his speed. He got in several great hits before Heath was able to push him back. Heath stayed on the defensive, blocking Riku’s strikes, before he found an opening and struck Riku on the forearm. Riku yelped, in surprise more-so than pain, and almost dropped his sword. He recovered quickly though, and used a spin slice to hit Heath in the shoulder with a lot of momentum.

Heath then used that as an opening to strike Riku across the back and knock him onto the ground. He pointed his sword at Riku’s neck, and Riku let go of his. Heath then pulled his sword away and went to high-five Hozumi’s awaiting hand.

“I lost!” Riku groaned, upset. He may have lost, but he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. That had been the most fun he had had in a while.

“Hey,” Takeru said, standing over him. He reached his hand out and helped Riku up.

“I lost!” Riku shouted again. Takeru just smiled and held his hand up for a high-five. Riku didn’t hesitate to smack it.

“We’ll get them next time,” Takeru said simply.

“You guys did awesome,” Nana said, proud of the two of them.

“You sure did,” said Hozumi. “And it looks like the Honan Guild is back in action.”

“Welcome to the team, newbies.”


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, school kept me busy. Only a couple more weeks left before summer though! Hopefully I will be able to update more often once school's out.
> 
> This chapter is from Saisei's POV. It won't necessarily be an every other sort of thing, but I can tell you Saisei will also be a main focus of this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> Thanks to everyone who left kudos and commented!

                The hustle and bustle of the castle was normal, despite the amount of people setting up for the gathering of the guilds in three days. Reiji, and his own personal attendant, Shizuma, were headed to the dining room to get breakfast. Reiji’s father was a firm believer in eating meals as a family, and so breakfast was served when the sun came up, every day. During this time, Reiji would find out what he was to do for the day, and if there were any upcoming events scheduled.

                When they reached the dining room, Shizuma opened the door for Reiji and followed him in. He then pulled out Reiji’s chair for him before retreating to the sidelines. Reiji didn’t typically require his services during meals, as he had the whole kitchen staff to wait on him. As always, Reiji’s father had arrived first and was talking to some of the other nobles that had come by this morning.

                “I do think that the Ichijyokan Guild has the strongest members as of late.”

                “True, but do you see the amount of quests the Mihashi Guild has taken on recently? I would say they are one of the most active guilds.”

Reiji somewhat ignored the pointless chatter. It’s not that he didn’t care, it was just because it reminded him of the fight he got in with his father earlier in the week. Reiji had wanted to join Kanagawa’s Saisei Guild, but his father had refused.

The kitchen staff came in with the food, and the conversations died down some as everyone began to eat.

“How are your studies going, Reiji?” his mother asked.

“They are going well. My astronomy instructor says that I learn fast,” Reiji replied.

“Very good. And your sword training?”

“I have really excelled with a long sword, and my instructor says that it is the best suited sword for me.”

“Your boy seems well suited to fighting, why not have him join the Saisei Guild,” the manager for said guild proposed. He was always on the prowl for more strong fighters.

“Unthinkable,” Reiji’s father dismissed quickly. “He will be safe while he is in the castle. I do not want any harm to come to him.”

“Father—!” Reiji protested.

“Enough, we have already discussed this matter.” His father gave him a disappointed look before resuming the conversation he was having about the Mihashi Guild. The Saisei Guild manager glanced apologetically, but quickly forgot about the conversation as he talked about the strong members his guild already had.

The meal was over after not too long, and Shizuma made his way over to Reiji to pull out his chair and walk him back to his room. Reiji had sword training later on after lunch, but before then, his schedule was free.

“I’m sorry your father still won’t budge,” Shizuma said, knowing that fact was still weighing heavily on Reiji’s mind. “It’s not that you aren’t good enough, he is just worried about you getting hurt.”

“If I was good enough, then there wouldn’t be a reason to worry,” Reiji said disappointedly.

“You’re his only son, and the only heir to the throne. If by some chance something did happen to you, he would be devastated. He just wants to keep you safe.” Reiji knew Shizuma was right, but he was still disappointed.

“Hey guys!” Asuma yelled, running down the hall to greet them. Some of the castle staff gave him a dirty look, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“Asuma,” Shizuma scolded, “You shouldn’t be running inside the castle.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Asuma rolled his eyes at his brother’s uptight attitude. “But, I figured Reiji would want to see some of the guilds practice!” Reiji blinked and looked at Shizuma, who sighed and shrugged. Asuma watched the silent exchange, hoping it would end with him and Reiji getting to watch them practice.

“I guess, since Reiji is free until lunchtime, it wouldn’t hurt to watch for a little while.”

“Yes!” Asuma pumped his fist in the air. Reiji just smiled happily and allowed Asuma to take his arm and drag him down the hall.

They ended up deciding to watch from the balcony that overlooked the large field where sparring matches and Reiji’s sword lessons happened. This was also the place where newly recruited knights were taught the basics of combat.

“Over there, look!” Asuma said pointing. “It’s the Ichijyokan Guild!” Reiji looked down at where he was pointing and saw a small group sparring on one side of the field. Reiji was able to recognize Yuri Himemiya, the prince of Hokkaido. The two of them didn’t really _know_ each other, but they did know _of_ each other.

Yuri was currently sparing with a brown-haired man. He looked like he was keeping up fairly well and was capable of holding his own against the man who looked to be much stronger, physically, than Yuri. There were two other guys sparring, one with an axe and the other with a sword, and then there were two guys standing off to the side. One of the men off to the side seemed to be yelling directions to the two groups sparring.

“Wow, look at them go!” Asuma exclaimed. “It makes me wish I could be part of a guild and go out and fight like that!” Shizuma gave Asuma a pointed look. “What?” Shizuma then gestured over to a now sullen Reiji. “Oh, yeah, sorry about your dad…”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Reiji said, not really meaning it, but hoping to assure Asuma the same. He wished his father would be more like Yuri’s, and let him join a guild.

“Who is that over there?” Shizuma suddenly spoke up, pointing to a man dressed in armor practicing with a spear. He was over by the west tower, which was never used anymore, hidden by the bushes, and almost out of sight. He swung his spear like an expert, and his footwork was flawless.

“I don’t know. There isn’t anyone with him… Where do you think his guild is?” Asuma asked. “What guild do you even think he is a part of?”

“Isn’t that the castle’s armor?” Reiji asked suddenly, recognizing the royal emblem, even from far away. “But I didn’t know we trained knights to use spears.”

“They aren’t trained to…” Shizuma said, trailing off. All of the knights were trained only with a sword and shield, as those were typically the weapons easiest for everyone to use well. A few of the higher ranking knights had specialized weapons, but most generally stuck to swords.

“But he’s really good!” Asuma pointed out, watching the man move. “He should be in a guild, not stuck here at the castle where nothing ever happens. It’s so boring.”

“Boring is good. That means we aren’t under attack, and we are safe,” Shizuma said. Reiji and Asuma were both inclined to disagree. They both wanted adventure.

“I knew I would find you up here,” a voice from behind sounded. “Sorry if I’m interrupting anything.” A short boy with green hair and big brown eyes had come out onto the balcony. In one hand he held a piece of parchment.

“Who are you?” Shizuma asked, naturally weary. Protecting Reiji was always at the forefront of his mind.

“Sorry, I’m Kaede Okumura, and my father is an advisor here. My father, the King, and some of the other royals are in a conference right now finalizing decisions for the event in a couple days. I’m supposed to come here and get Prince Reiji to join them but the manager of Saisei Guild also asked me to do something else.” Reiji perked up at the mention of the Saisei Guild.

“What else are you supposed to do?” Reiji asked.

“He wanted me to ask you if you would like to decide the members of the Saisei Guild that are to participate in this request your father is sending guilds on. Since not many know the particulars, he figured you would be his best option. That and you see the Saisei Guild train on a regular basis.” Reiji pondered the request for a while before nodding. He did know most of the Saisei Guild members, and he knew what his father was having these guilds do.

“I’ll do it,” Reiji said confidently.

“Great!” Kaede said with a smile, then in a hushed tone he added, “The manager also said that if you wanted to be a part of the team, he would be happy to have you.”

“That is out of the question,” Shizuma said quickly, dismissing all hope Reiji had.

“Just passing along the message,” Kaede said, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrendering. “Now, if you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to where your father is waiting.” Reiji sighed, not wanting to be involved with the planning, if he couldn’t take part in the mission. Kaede handed him the list of the Saisei Guild members. There were six spots at the bottom where names could be filled in.

Shizuma and Reiji waved goodbye to Asuma, and then followed Kaede to one of four conference rooms in the castle. Along the way, Reiji looked over the list trying to pick the best candidates for the task. He still hadn’t decided on anyone by the time they had made it to the room.

“I’ll be waiting outside for you once you finish,” Shizuma said, knowing that although he was close to Reiji and his personal servant, he was still not privy to private or sensitive information. Reiji walked into the room to find his father along with his advisor and several other high ranking officials, such as the Captain of the Knights and the Head Sage.

As they were discussing whether or not they should provide guilds with a set of provisions when they first set off, Reiji found his seat next to his father.

“There you are,” his father said, “I’m surprised Kaede was able to find you. You seem to disappear sometimes.” He gave a small chuckle. It was true that in a castle so large it was hard to find someone when you didn’t know where to look.

“So Prince Reiji, what do you think? Should we give them provisions when they set off?”

“Most guilds are well established by now, I don’t see why they would need provisions, as they all probably have plenty stocked up or have money to get them,” Reiji said seriously. It wasn’t that he was stingy with money and resources; he just genuinely didn’t believe it would be necessary.

“What about the guilds that form in order to participate in this mission?” the Head Sage asked. He was a kindly old man that only thought about other people. Reiji had to think hard about this. He knew what he said would be heavily scrutinized, as the people in the room wanted to judge whether or not he would be fit to rule one day.

“I don’t think provisions will be necessary,” Reiji finally decided. “They should be given advice and shown how things work; however, if they believe they are good enough to tackle this mission, then I am sure they will be able to complete smaller quests along the way to get what they need. In fact, it will promote them having to complete these quests, and they will gain experience. It also means more quests will be done, and the population as a whole will benefit, as the people will have strong warriors to take on even their toughest of requests.”

Everyone in the room was silent for a while, before a few murmurs of agreement were heard. There were still some people who disagreed, but as a whole, they had decided. “We will not provide provisions for the guilds it seems,” Reiji’s father said, ending the debate once and for all. “Now, the next question is should we test the guilds, and weed out the ones that are weak, or should we allow any guild that has six members to take part in this task.”

Reiji knew there would be many guilds trying to take on the challenge only to get the reward. That is not what the kingdom needed. They needed strong and dedicated guilds who would risk their lives in order to protect the people. The general consensus so far was that the guilds should be tested, and Reiji agreed.

“What kind of test should they be put up to? A tournament?” the Captain of the Knights asked. Some of the other men in the room put forth other suggestions, but no one could come up with one that everyone agreed to.

“We could have them help the townspeople out,” the Head Sage suggested, always thinking about other people. Most of what the townspeople would have them do though, could not be considered a challenge.

“Why not set up a mission for them to complete?” Reiji suggested.

“Isn’t that what we are already doing?” one of the nobles sneered.

“No, a staged mission, just to see if they are capable. We could tell them that a mysterious warrior has attacked the castle, and we need them to vanquish him. In reality, that mysterious man could be someone to test their fighting capabilities, and to see if they have the intellect required to complete quests, they would have to track him down based on clues that they find.”

“That is a brilliant idea!”

“But what if they actually kill him?”

“That would test their abilities for sure!”

“It would be easy to weed out the weaker guilds!”

“This seems like too much trouble just for a test.”

“Quiet down,” the King commanded. The room fell deadly silent. The Chief Scholar raised his hand, seeking permission to speak. The King granted it to him, and then he spoke with his suggestion.

“Instead of having someone to fight, we could have one of the monsters that had been experimented on in the lab for them to fight. Nothing too tough, but not something easy either.”

“But what if it’s too tough for the guild and it kills them?”

“We could have knights there, hidden, to assist or help them escape if necessary.”

“How will we test all of the guilds like this, aren’t there too many? If we wanted them to think this was a real quest, they wouldn’t be able to come in contact any of the other guilds.”

“I have an idea,” the Captain of the Knights said. “We could send them to the labyrinth dungeon. There we could have two or three beasts roaming about. Those who make it out by sundown, or kill a beast will be able to participate in the quest. It wouldn’t be a secret that they were being tested, and they would all take it seriously.”

“So, only the guilds with superior intellect or battle skills will be able to participate in the quest.”

“Exactly.”

“That sounds like a splendid plan,” King Suwa said. “We’ll set everything up the night before, so it will be ready when they get here.” And with that, the plans for the event we set. Reiji was one of the last out of the room as many people felt the need to tell him what a good job he did. While he didn’t really mind the praise, he felt as if they were all treating him as someone inferior who needed to be told when he did something good, since it didn’t happen often. Reiji had always thought he made great decisions when he was asked.

“How was it?” Shizuma asked as Reiji left the conference room. True to his word, he had waited outside for Reiji the whole time.

“Not that interesting. I think I made a good impression on some of the nobles though.” Shizuma knew how important it was for Reiji to make good impressions on people. Without the support of his citizens and nobles, Reiji would be a poor ruler, and likely assassinated.

“Each little bit helps,” Shizuma stated wisely. The two of them were head to the dining room for lunch.

“Yeah, I wish Shiki would stop being such a tyrant all the time.”

“Just because he can see all of our weak points, doesn’t mean everyone can.”

“Half of what we will be fighting will be too dumb to notice anyway.” A group of three people all wearing the Ichijyokan emblem were headed down the hall, opposite of Reiji and Shizuma. They seemed to be too engrossed in their conversation to pay attention to where they were going. The brown-haired one almost bumped into Reiji, but Shizuma snagged an arm around Reiji’s middle and pulled him aside.

“Woah, sorry about that!” the man said loudly, finally noticing there were other people in the hallway.

“Nice reflexes you have there,” the gray-haired one said to Shizuma, who still had his arm wrapped around Reiji.

“Wow, Kiyoto, you should really pay more attention,” the purple-haired man said to the man with brown hair.

“You weren’t paying any attention either, Tetsu!”

“Well at least I didn’t run into anyone!”

Shizuma and Reiji watched their bickering, not knowing whether they should walk away now, or if that would be rude.

“Guys, let’s go, Yuri is waiting for us.”

“Okay, okay, sorry again, you two.” And with that, the group walked off, continuing to talk loudly and not pay attention to where they were going.

“Well, I guess we get lunch.” Shizuma and Reiji headed to the dining hall so Reiji could eat lunch, and afterwards, Shizuma took Reiji to the training yard for his sword lessons.

“Reiji, it’s good to see you, are you ready to get started?” his teacher asked, handing Reiji his longsword. Reiji nodded, but in actuality, he was feeling nervous. Sweat was covering his palms already, and he could feel his face heating up a little. Normally Reiji didn’t get nervous, but with the eyes of so many guild members on him, he felt like he was going to do poorly.

Reiji knew his combat was better than average, but surrounded by people who lived for battle, he knew he was probably going to look like an amateur. Knowing being nervous wasn’t going to help him for this, Reiji took a deep breath and tried to forget about all of the people who could be watching. They were likely too immersed in their own training to care anyway.

“Today, why don’t we have a sparring match? It’s been too long since I’ve done one, and seeing all of these guild members reminds me of when I was a swordsman starting out. Me and my buddies would have sparring matches whenever we could fit them in,” he laughed loudly. “The kitchen staff never did appreciate having a bunch of knights-in-training in their kitchen using fish as swords.”

“Fish…?” Reiji wondered how that would even work.

“Those were the good days… Well anyhow, c’mon Prince Reiji, I know you’re ready for this, so show me how much you have learned!” With that his instructor got into a battle stance and lunged at Reiji.

Reiji quickly sidestepped, anticipating the incoming attack, and swung his sword out to meet his teachers. They couldn’t stay locked like this, as Reiji had the under-hand, being not quite as strong as his teacher. Being pushed back, Reiji gave one hard push with his sword and created an opening for him to strike. He slashed quickly, then stepped back to avoid the barrage of stabs aimed for him.

Fighting with real swords had its advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage was the sparring matches felt more authentic, and were taken more seriously. The disadvantage was the fact that you could get wounded, or if the participants were not careful, someone could get killed.

Reiji grimaced at the feel of warm liquid trailing down his arm. The pain in his shoulder was strong, but adrenaline caused him to focus more on the battle that was happening rather than the pain. His instructor looked apologetic for a second, but that quickly disappeared as Reiji sliced his sword in at his teacher’s abdomen. The man easily dodged it, but was not as prepared for the attack that came next. He managed to block Reiji’s swing for his neck, but just barely.

Reiji didn’t let up on the offensive, as he then went for the abdomen again in a horizontal strike. His attacks came at different angles, causing them to be harder to block. His instructor never knew where he would strike next and in order to get the upper-hand again, he would have to put Reiji on the defensive. But the chance to do this never came, as Reiji managed to get him to block at an awkward angle, causing his grip to be slacker. Taking advantage of this, Reiji was easily able to strike his instructors sword out of his hand. Ceding defeat, his teacher raised his hands in surrender.

“That was an amazing match, Prince Reiji,” he said seriously.

“Thank you,” Reiji said, feeling the adrenaline leaving his body and making him feel weak. His hand immediately went to his shoulder, now feeling the pain full force.

“We should get you to the infirmary, so that you can get your shoulder patched up.” Reiji shook his head. Knowing Shizuma, the man would want to take care of it himself in order to make sure Reiji was definitely okay.

“Shizuma will take care of it. It’s not that major of a wound.” His instructor sighed, knowing too that Shizuma would throw a fit if Reiji went to someone else.

“He probably will be in the kitchen or dining hall. Do you want me to find someone to get him or do you want someone to take you there?”

“I’m fine. I can go by myself.”

“Prince Reiji, you know your father would not approve. He just wants you to be safe.”

“I know, but it isn’t that far, and I’ll be inside the castle.”

“He still wants you to be with someone else at all times.”

“I know, but it really isn’t that far, and then I’ll be with Shizuma.”

“Prince Reiji…” Reiji glared at him, too stubborn to back down. He was sick of his father treating him like he couldn’t take care of himself.

“I’ll go with him,” a voice spoke up. Reiji turned to see Yuri Himemiya. The boy was twirling a lock of mismatched hair between his fingers. “I need to find Shiki anyway, and last I heard he was in the kitchen causing a bit of a ruckus.”

“What do you say, Prince Reiji?” asked his teacher.

“That is fine with me.” Reiji was bothered by the fact that the other prince was considered capable enough to take care of himself, when Reiji was not. But, he pushed those feelings aside, as he wanted to talk to Yuri alone anyway. Yuri headed to the door to the castle, waiting for Reiji to hand his sword back to his instructor and make his way over.

The two of them headed inside. “You know, you aren’t half bad with a sword,” Yuri said.

“I’ve been training for a while now.”

“Because you want to join a guild?” Yuri already knew the answer to this question, so he continued, “Don’t even try to deny it, because everyone can see how badly you want to get out of this castle and explore the world for yourself.”

“But my father won’t let me. He thinks I’m not capable.”

“What does it matter what your father says? You can join a guild anyway. Run away from home if you want.”

“But I don’t want to run. I want to help my country but vanquishing this threat!”

“I would ask what threat, but I think I know already.” Reiji looked surprised. The information about the quest was supposed to be classified. “Don’t look so surprised. When you travel as much as we do, you find out about these things first-hand.”

“First-hand?”

“It’s a long story…” Yuri trailed off, “but that’s why our guild was cut in half.”

“You mean, it killed…?”

“Yes. Those of us that got away are lucky. Had I not summoned Leviathan, we would have all been dead.”

“Leviathan? You mean, even Leviathan was no match for it?” This was news to Reiji, as he didn’t even think anyone had encountered it.

“See? This is why your father wants you here and safe.”

“But we won’t be safe for much longer, if it is allowed to live!”

“Tell your father how you feel.”

“I have! He blew me off, and told me I wouldn’t be able to make a difference anyway.”

“Then don’t give him a choice. Tell him you are joining a guild. Show him how determined you are.”

“But he told me—!”

“Yeah, and my father told me I would never leave the castle. Look where I’m at now.” Yuri stopped walking and looked Reiji in the eyes. “Prove to him that you are serious about this and don’t back down. He will eventually see things your way.” Reiji looked down at the ground. His father was stubborn, he wouldn’t budge. “Dozono’s here in the kitchen, but I don’t see Shizuma,” Yuri said peeking through the door to the kitchen. “I guess he’s in the dining hall… Can you make it there yourself?”

“Of course I can,” Reiji said, annoyed.

“Glad to see you put on your big boy pants. You’ll need them to convince your father to let you in on this mission. Good luck.” Yuri headed into the kitchen, yelling “Donozo, put down that fish!” Reiji headed down the hallway to the dining hall, thinking about what Yuri had said.

“Prince Reiji, you’re bleeding!” one of the maids that worked at the castle exclaimed as he headed into the room. The dining hall was where the servants ate, but at this time, most of them were cleaning up so they could head back to their duties.

“Yes, is Shizuma here?” Reiji asked politely. She nodded and rushed off to get him.

“Reiji!” Shizuma cried seeing his injury. “What happened?”

“My instructor and I were sparring, and he managed to get me. I won in the end though,” Reiji finished proudly. Shizuma didn’t look amused though. He concentrated and cast some healing magic on Reiji’s shoulder.

“We should get this cleaned up. It’ll still be sore for a while, but it wasn’t anything too bad,” Shizuma lead Reiji out of the room and to Reiji’s bedroom. He headed into the bathroom to get a wet washcloth while Reiji took off his shirt.

When Shizuma came out, he started cleaning the blood off of Reiji’s arm. Where the wound was, there was now a small scar. “It looks like it healed okay.” Shizuma said.

“Thanks to your strong white magic,” Reiji said sincerely. “If I went to the infirmary, it probably would still be open.” Shizuma knew Reiji was exaggerating, but still appreciated the compliment all the same.

“It’s because of all the time I had to practice,” Shizuma said, but then quickly regretted it.

“I’m sorry. It’s all my fault,” Reiji said.

“Don’t think like that, Reiji, I never have blamed you. Besides, I like being able to cast healing magic, and I would have probably never known I had a strong affinity for it had that not happened.”

“I guess,” Reiji said solemnly. No matter how many times Shizuma tried to reassure him, he still felt guilty.

Trying to change the subject, Shizuma spoke. “Have you decided on any of the members of the Saisei Guild to take part?”

“Well…” Shizuma was Reiji’s best friend, and he would support him no matter what. Reiji still felt nervous telling him though, because Shizuma agreed with his father on the fact that he thought Reiji shouldn’t take part in the mission. He had his big boy pants on now though, so it was time to start acting like it. “I have decided that I will be joining Saisei Guild and taking part in the mission,” Reiji said confidently.

Shizuma stared at him blankly. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No. I’ve made up my mind. Shizuma, this is what I really want to do. This is what is important to me.” Shizuma studied his face before sighing.

“Your father is not going to be happy.”

“I know.”

“You will have to tell him… today.”

Reiji tried not to grimace. “I will.” But then he perked up a little. “You know—”

“I’m not going to do it for you.” Reiji sighed in disappointment. “But there is one other thing I want you to promise me.”

“What is it?”

“You’ll let me be a part of the team.”

“But Shizuma—!”

“No buts, Reiji. It is my job to take care of you, and if you are traveling the world while I am stuck here, I won’t be able to do that. I might not be able to fight anymore, but I can still heal. I want to be there for you, Reiji.” Reiji didn’t want to argue with Shizuma, as it would be pointless, and he secretly did want Shizuma to come.

“It’s a deal.” Reiji said. He took out the parchment Kaede had given him earlier. Now with two names down, there were only four more to go.


	3. Chapter Three

Riku looked over the small bag he had put together when he got home the day previous. It consisted of some of his most important spell books, a couple of potions, and some food his parents put together for him.

“Are you sure you have everything you need?” Riku’s mother asked him. She was checking over his bag, and straightening his clothes out. “Maybe we should see if we can find you some better armor, your brothers hand-me-downs may not last.”

“Mom it’s fine,” Riku said, glancing over at the armor vest his brother had grown out of. They had sold most of the other equipment his brother had owned, but they couldn’t get rid of his first vest. “It’ll be fine, I promise. Besides, we are only heading to Kanagawa. If I need something, we can get it then.”

“The trip is still dangerous!”

“But I won’t be alone. I’ll be with my guild.”

“But the Honan Guild has not been active for years. The members probably don’t have enough experience.”

“We aren’t going anywhere that dangerous yet. The path to Kanagawa is traveled on all the time. They even have soldiers stationed on the path. We’ll be fine.”

“But –!”

“Honey,” Riku’s father cut in. “They’re here.” Riku headed downstairs with his parents to see Nana and Takeru waiting for him.

“Are you ready to go, Riku?” Nana asked.

“Yep!” he chirped. “Bye dad, bye mom!”

“Have fun, son.”

“Don’t forget your bag,” Riku’s mom handed him his bag, which seemed heavier than before.

“What did you put in here, mom!?” Riku shouted, hardly able to hold it up.

“Just a little bit more food.”

“I don’t need more—”

“Thank you Ms. Yagami,” Nana cut in. “It’s very generous of you.”

“My pleasure.”

“But I don’t want to carry all of this.”

“You’ll probably change your mind later.” Takeru said. “Sometimes food can be hard to find.”

“What do you mean find?”

“How did you think we were going to get food? Buy it?”

“Then what are we going to eat?

“Whatever we can find or kill.”

“No way! You’re joking right?”

“You really haven’t done this before, have you? Amateur.”

“What did you call me!?”

“Guys, quit arguing, please,” Nana begged. “We are going to be spending a long time together.”

“She’s right, you know,” a new voice chimed in.

“Heath!”

“You guys all ready to go?” Heath asked. Hozumi and Ayumu were waiting behind him, both of them with their gear on and ready to go.

“Yeah,” Riku said, brushing past Takeru. “Let’s go.” Riku’s parents watched the group head outside, sad to see their little boy all grown up.

“Now, I know this is you newbies first time out in the field. Not only you guy’s first time, but Ayumu, it’ll be yours too.”

“Yeah, and my parents were freaking out.”

“Just like mine,” Riku said.

“My uncle really didn’t want me to go,” Nana confessed. “But Sakura-chan managed to convince him, since this is really important to me.”

“Well I understand why they were all a little nervous, this is dangerous,” Hozumi said. “My mom still isn’t the happiest when I leave, but she understands that what I’m doing is what I want to do.”

“See, everyone’s parents have their reserves… In any case, everyone got everything they need?” Heath asked, getting a chorus of ‘yes’ from the group. “Okay then, let’s head out.”

“And where do you think you’re going?” a man’s voice stopped them cold. A man in traveling garments and glasses stood behind them with a stern expression on his face.

“Mr. Dan—” Heath started.

“I don’t want any excuses. As the manager of this guild, I expect to be informed when you head out on missions.” He glared at Heath. “As the leader of your team, I expected you would know better than to leave me out of the loop.”

“How’d you find out anyway?” Heath mumbled, looking sullen.

“A friend of mine heard the news, and asked me about it. I was just as surprised as he was to hear the Honan Guild was headed to Kanagawa to take part in the King’s mission.”

“Who is this guy?” Riku finally asked.

“This is Mr. Dan, he is the manager of the Honan Guild.”

“The manager?” asked Riku. He didn’t know guilds had managers.

“Yes,” Hozumi said, coming around to stand in front of all the new members. “The manager of the guild is usually the one that signs guilds up for quests, manages their inventory, and finds them places to stay when they are in a foreign town.”

“Kind of like what you asked Nana to do?” Takeru said. Dan raised a brow.

“You asked someone else to take over my responsibilities?”

“Not all of them, we just figured since Nana really wanted to be part of the team, we should let her.”

“Well, that is fine with me; I mean that would mean I probably would be able to spend more time at home with my family.” Heath shuddered slightly at the mention of Mr. Dan’s family. “But if these six are all you have, then who else are you taking with you to participate in the King’s mission?”

“What do you mean?” Ayumu asked. “We have six!”

“You don’t just need six members, you need six fighters. It seems like you guys really would be lost without me.”

“Six fighters!?” Riku exclaimed. “But we don’t have time to go looking for more!”

“We have to find one more, or we won’t be able to join in on the mission,” Takeru said matter-of-factly.

“There is no way we will be able to find someone on such short notice! I mean, we could hardly find anyone willing to give us the time of day when we had plenty of time to find someone.” Ayumu yelled.

“Well, I guess we came this far for nothing,” Heath said disappointedly.

“We can’t just give up now!” Nana said. “If worst comes to worst, I’ll dress up like a boy and be part of your team.”

“You would do that?” Hozumi asked, surprised she would go through such lengths.

“I sure would! But guys, I might not have to. There will probably be plenty of people in Kanagawa that want to join a guild last minute. I’m know we can find someone there.”

“She’s right,” Takeru said. “A lot of people don’t join guilds these days, and they probably want to in order to be able to participate.”

“Like you?” Riku asked.

“Yes, like me.”

“Why’d you pick Honan Guild, anyway?” Hozumi asked, “I’m sure it’s not because you heard about it in your travels.”

“I always was going to join Honan Guild,” Takeru said simply, confusing everyone, but not offering any more of an explanation.

“It’s time for you guys to get going,” Dan said, interrupting their chat and getting everyone’s attention. “You can hope for finding someone there, but the chances of that person being any good are very slim, as if they were good, they would have been recruited already.” The team was given time to ponder the meaning of this. Dan sighed. “Well, I guess you should be off now if you want to make it in time.”

“Yep, it’s time to go,” Heath said. “We’ll head out of town to the east and take the trail down through the forest. Once we are out of the forest, we’ll be walking on the open plains for quite a while. At least there aren’t many monsters on the plains.”

“Everyone have everything they need?” Dan asked. “You won’t be able to turn around and come back if you forget something.” Everyone looked through their stuff nodding and fidgeting.

“I’m too antsy; I’m just ready to go!”  Ayumu said. Hozumi laughed.

“It feels surreal,” Nana said, with an excited smile on her face. “But, I’m ready to kick some monster butt!” She raised her new dagger in the air.

“Okay, okay,” Heath said. “Settle down.”

“Bye Mr. Dan!” Riku shouted cheerfully even though the group had only walked a few feet away. He waved obnoxiously with a huge grin on his face.

“Someone’s excited,” Takeru commented.

“This is my first time going out as a guild. The only time I really got to leave town was for deliveries.”

“I’ve never been out of town,” Ayumu admitted.

“You are part of Honan Guild, yet you never have gone on a mission?”

“Well, I only joined the Guild because I was a friend of Hozumi’s and they needed more members. Before then, I never imaged I would be taking part of missions and fighting monsters!”

“So, you and Nana are the only two who haven’t actually had real combat experience,” Takeru said.

“I guess that’s right,” Ayumu said. “Riku did mention going out on deliveries, Hozumi and Heath were a part of the guild while it was still active, and Takeru… Well I don’t really know what Takeru was out doing…” Everyone looked to Takeru hoping he would open up about his mysterious past.

“I was training and getting experience for the day I would join a guild,” Takeru said. “Ever since I was younger, I knew I was going to be joining Honan Guild.”

“You said something like that earlier. Any particular reason you picked Honan Guild?” Heath asked.

“Well, I…”

“There they are!” a man shouted as they approached the exit for the town. A lot of the townspeople had gathered near the exit.

“Good luck Honan!”

“You can do it!”

“Make us proud!”

“Bring Honan glory!” Many shouts filled the air. The team was surprised to see all of these people supporting them and believing in them.

“Wow, there are so many people here,” Hozumi muttered, half hiding behind Heath and Ayumu.

“They all came to see us off?”

“Guess the guild is still popular despite the incident,” Heath said.

“Maybe everyone sees this as a fresh start,” Ayumu said, “and if we do well, then maybe the guild will get tons of new members!”

“I suppose.” Some people came up to the group to hand them gifts of food and items to help them on their journey. By the time they made it out of town, the group had twice as much as when they initially set out.

“So heavy!” Riku groaned, hefting his heavy bag.

“You’re just going to have to get used to it,” Hozumi said, carrying his heavy bag. He was also straining to hold it, but was better about handling it.

“Come on you two, quit being babies,” Heath said. “If you need me to, I can take some of that off your hands.” Hozumi gratefully gave over some of his foodstuffs over to Heath.

“I’ll hang onto all of your items if you want,” Ayumu said, making grabby motions with his hands. He already had two large bags stuffed full of items.

“Don’t give them to him unless you want to see them get used in other ways,” Hozumi warned Riku, who was ready to hand their stock of healing items over to Ayumu.

“Why?” Nana asked, curious more so than concerned, “What is he going to do with them?”

“Mix them and combine them to create other things,” Heath said.

“Really?” Takeru asked, sounding intrigued. Ayumu looked embarrassed.

“It’s nothing really. My parents just taught me about the properties of items and I’ve experimented a little. It’s not a big deal.”

“That’s really cool!” said Riku. “I can’t wait to see you in action!”

“Me neither,” Nana said.

“Speaking of action, Nana, have you even used a dagger before?” Heath asked.

“No, but I figured you guys could each me along the way.”

“Never to fear, dear,” Ayumu said grandly, brandishing his own dagger, “I know much about using a dagger. I may not have ever used it to fight off monsters, but I have practiced with it.”

“Great!” Nana said looking excited.

“Maybe you could learn some white magic or something so you won’t be in much danger, and be able to stay in the back,” Heath said looking skeptical.

“Just because she is a girl doesn’t mean she can’t handle herself,” Hozumi said, glaring at Heath.

“I didn’t say it was because she was a girl,” Heath protested.

“It was implied by your tone and the way you looked at her!”

“Don’t worry about that, Nana,” Ayumu said, “Heath is just worried about you!”

“I’ll protect her, don’t worry,” Takeru said confidently.

“I will too!” Riku said, not wanting to be outdone by this stranger.

“I’m so lucky to have two great guys willing to protect me,” Nana said. “Even with no experience, I feel safe going out into the field.”

“Hey, I wanna feel safe too!” Ayumu said.

“Don’t worry, me and Heath are here for you,” Hozumi said.

“Well, here’s our chance to see how well that works,” Heath said. He gestured over to two wolves that were slowly getting closer to the group. “Okay guys, I want Nana to be in the back, Takeru and Ayumu, you guys get back too.”

“They are coming from behind us too,” Takeru said.

“I don’t see any behind us,” Riku said scanning the tall grass.

“They are there,” Takeru said.

“I still don’t—”

“Riku! To the left!” Riku didn’t think, but just followed Takeru’s command, and he was lucky he did. A wolf had jumped out of the grass and pounced where he had just been standing.

“Damn. Hozumi you and Takeru defend Nana and Ayumu from the back. Riku and I will take these two out,” Heath said watching the two wolves slowly creep closer. Riku stood next to Heath and drew his sword. Heath standing next to him drew his weapon of choice, a katana.

The both of them waited until the wolves got a little closer before swinging at them. Riku’s swing barely brushed the side of one of the wolves, while Heath’s made a gash across the leg of the other wolf.

Hozumi was fending off a wolf from attacking Nana, who somewhat froze up when she saw it. He punched the wolf in the side of the jaw and was going in for another hit when another wolf knocked into him. They rolled for a bit with the wolf ending up on top of Hozumi. Its gaping jaws opened and saliva dripped onto Hozumi’s face. Hozumi tried forcing it off, but it was it strong. An arrow flew across the field and embedded itself in the side of the wolf. It howled in pain as it was knocked off Hozumi.

Nana, seeing her opportune moment didn’t think, but just did. She gripped her dagger tightly in her hand as she approached the wolf and struck it in the back of the neck. She kept pushing and pushing with blood spraying up at her until she felt the wolf go limp.

With that one down, there were only four more wolves left in total. Ayumu, who had been off to the side held up something in one hand. “Everyone close your eyes!” Despite it being dangerous with four wolves aiming to kill them, Ayumu’s teammates decided to trust him and closed their eyes. A blinding flash went off and when they opened their eyes again, the four wolves were stumbling around blindly.

“Now’s our chance,” Heath said, quickly finishing off one of the wolves. With a snap of the neck, Hozumi had taken out another one. Takeru and Riku each took one down themselves. After the battle was over, the group took a moment to collect themselves. Heath looked down at the small blood stain he got on his pants in disgust. Hozumi wiped off the small amount of gore he got on his gloved hands onto a cloth he had brought with him. Takeru pulled Riku over to the corpses and started inspecting what they could take with them.

“Nana, are you alright?” Ayumu asked getting the rest of the team’s attention. They all looked over to the poor girl, who was covered in blood. She was looking down at her blood covered hands and knife sitting in front of the wolf she had killed.

“Hey, if it’s too much, we can take you back,” Heath said, trying not to let any of the disappointment show in his voice. He knew this sort of thing was hard on people, but he saw real potential in their group and didn’t want everything to end up in pieces right after they started.

“That was awesome!” Nana cheered, “But I do wish I hadn’t worn my favorite dress.” Though she had a leather vest on top of her dress, the bottom part of it was still covered in blood.

“You’re okay?” Ayumu asked, concerned for her mental stability.

“Yeah, I mean, we worked so well together and it was just so cool being able to do something so exhilarating. I’ve never had this much excitement all at once!” Heath breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’m glad you are okay,” Hozumi said, “I remember the first time I killed a monster; I didn’t feel clean again for days.”

“Well, everyone survived our first encounter with monsters, and guys, just remember it’s going to just get harder and harder. If you don’t think you can handle it, we can turn back now.”

“We can handle it. I know we’ll be the ones to complete the King’s mission and bring Honan Guild glory,” Takeru said. The rest of the team agreed and they continued on their way. After hours of walking and fighting monsters, the team finally made it to the forest.

“We’ll stop here for the night,” said Heath. “I bet you are all starving and exhausted.” After a chorus of agreements, Heath chuckled. “Okay, I’ll work on setting up the tents.”

“I’ll help,” said Ayumu. “I’m a pro tent-setter-upper.”

“I can go get wood for a fire,” Takeru said. “Riku will come with me.”

“Eh? I will?” Riku asked, looking up from where he had been showing Nana the proper way to hold a dagger.

“Of course.” With that, the two of them were off into the creepy forest. Takeru made Riku feel a little awkward with the silence, so after a while, he spoke up.

“So how long have you been travelling?” Riku asked, hoping to learn more about the mysterious man.

“A couple years. Before then I would help around town to get money for my journey,” Takeru said, seemingly having no problem opening up to Riku.

“And your parents are okay with that?”

“They don’t care. They know that I would run away from home if they didn’t approve.”

“You would run away from home!? Did joining Honan Guild mean that much to you?”

“Of course it did, after all I—”

“Hey guys, I came to find you,” Nana said. “They have the tents all set up, and said you’d been gone for quite a while. We were starting to…” she trailed off, staring at the large pile of sticks and brush the two of them had gathered. “Don’t you think that’s more than enough?”

Over the course of Riku and Takeru talking, they had both began to try and pick up more twigs and such than the other in order to impress Nana when they got back. Neither of them seemed to register how impractical it would be to horde a large amount of firewood.

“Oh, maybe we did go a little overboard…” Riku said sheepishly.

“A little?” Nana murmured under her breath. Silly boys, they both probably wanted to show off their macho-ness to each other by carrying a heavier amount of firewood.

“Well I guess we’ll leave what Riku picked up here, and then head back,” Takeru said.

“Hey!” Riku exclaimed. “Why don’t we leave what you got here?”

“Because I obviously got the better quality firewood.”

“How do you figure that!?”

“I’m more experienced. It’s okay that you don’t understand how to pick firewood yet,” Takeru mocked patronizingly.

“Boys!” Nana exclaimed. “How about you just help me carry back what I’ve picked up?” She had a respectable amount of decent firewood in her arms that she was struggling to carry. Both boys quickly dropped what they had picked up and took a load out of her arms. “Thank you!”

The group headed back to see that the tents were set up and Hozumi had made dinner. “You’re back,” Hozumi said. “We’ll set up the fire over here, and then I can roast these.” He held up some skewered meat and vegetables.

Heath helped the Riku set up the wood and brush for the fire. “Now we just need something to get it started.” Heath started digging around in his bag for a fire starter.

“It’s okay, I’ve got it!” Riku said, confident in his abilities. Ayumu looked over curiously.

“What are you going to do? Rub a couple of sticks together?”

“No,” Riku said rolling his eyes at Ayumu’s sarcastic response. “I’m going to use fire magic.” Ayumu’s eyes widened.

“You can use magic? And a sword?”

“Yep,” Riku said proudly. He was pretty confident with his magic using. Every time he would use a spell, he would channel it through his sword, causing his sword to be embedded with the spell. It was pretty handy when fighting monsters that were weak to a certain spell.

“Well let’s see it!” Ayumu said excitedly. Riku nodded, then closed his eyes and concentrated. He had to focus his energy on the campfire that was set up. He chanted the incantation for the spell, channeling the fire to the sticks set up. It was strange channeling it to something so far from his hands, but he was sure he could do a good job. When he felt the energy leave his hands, he opened his eyes, watching the fire spell soar through the air and to… one of the tents set up.

“Ah! Riku!” Nana exclaimed, hurriedly throwing over a spare blanket and stomping the fire out with the help of Takeru. After all of the flames were extinguished, they pulled the blanket off and looked at the ruined tent. It had a large hole with singe marks around it in the left side of the tent.

“Um. That didn’t go as planned,” Riku said sheepishly. He rubbed the back of his neck looking at the ruined tent.

“Now we’re down to two tents,” Heath said solemnly. The green tent had always been his favorite, but now he was going to have to settle for the red or blue.

“Well it’s still nice to know we have someone who can cast spells if we need them,” Hozumi said, trying to cheer everyone up. “Now why don’t we let Heath get the fire going so we can eat, and then we’ll decide sleeping arrangements.”

Heath set up the fire and everyone cooked their dinner. Afterwards they decided Nana could have the red tent, Heath, Ayumu, and Hozumi would share the blue tent, and Riku and Takeru would sleep outside.

“It won’t be so bad,” Takeru said to Riku, setting down the ruined green tent on the ground he had cleared of rocks and twigs. He pulled out a blanket and spread it out. Riku quickly crawled under it, feeling a bit cold in the chilly night air. The fire was still going a little when they settled down, and it provided a bit of warmth as well.

Leaving an adequate amount of space between the two of them, Takeru crawled under the blanket, settling down facing away from Riku. Riku on the other hand, faced Takeru’s back, watching the other sleep.

Before he knew it morning had come. Riku didn’t remember falling asleep, but Takeru and Heath were already awake and packing everything up so they could leave. Takeru noticed Riku had woken up and handed him breakfast, an apple and a pastry that Riku’s mom had packed with him.

Looking around for the other three, Riku came to the conclusion that they were still asleep… that was until loud giggling came from the blue tent. Heath walked over and unzipped the tent.

“Hey you two, if you’re so awake you can start playing, why don’t you come eat breakfast and help us pack.” Ayumu and Hozumi sighed, stopping their tickling fight, for now, and promising they will find the victor. “Does someone want to wake up Nana?” Heath asked looking to Riku and Takeru. Both boys immediately jumped at the chance and dropped everything to rush to her tent. After pushing and shoving each other for a while, Riku managed to unzip the tent door. Nana’s scream echoed throughout the area.

“Stupid,” Takeru said to Riku, “You should have knocked!”

“But it’s a tent!” Riku protested. Hozumi felt bad for poor Nana. Both boys had neglected to shut the tent door.

“If she’s naked, zip it back up,” Heath barked.

“What if she’s not?” Riku asked.

“Then why’d she scream?”

“Because he unzipped it so suddenly, I thought he was here to kidnap me!” Nana said. Heath facepalmed.

“Here,” Ayumu helped Nana out of her tent and handed her breakfast. “We’ll pack up your tent.”

After they finished getting ready, they set out on the road. They still had three days before they would be in Kanagawa, but those three days passed quickly. After making it through the forest, they only had to follow the trail on the plains. It was rather uneventful because the guards stationed in the area kept the monster number under control.

“There seemed to be more guards out on the plains than usual,” Heath commented.

“I’m just thankful no more fighting for a while,” Ayumu said. “After all of those huge spiders in the forest, I’m completely drained and ready to be back in civilization!”

“Hey at least you didn’t have a raccoon chew threw your clothes!” Hozumi said, gesturing to the gaping hole at the bottom of his shirt. “I’m going to treat myself to a nice, sturdy, yet fashionable shirt when we get to Kanagawa.”

“Hey,” Nana said, squinting, “Is that Kanagawa in the distance?” She pointed to a large castle.

“Yup,” Hozumi said. “You can see the castle from here. When we get closer, you’ll be able to see the wall around the town.”

“So we’re almost there,” Riku said, trailing off. When they got there, their journey would really begin.


	4. Chapter Four

                It was the day before the big announcement, and Reiji, to his dismay, had not yet found his other members. All he had was him and Shizuma. Shizuma suggested looking for somebody from Saisei Guild like he was supposed to, but Reiji felt like no one there was quite right.

                “Reiji, we are running out of time, I don’t think you’ll find exactly what you are looking for.” Shizuma said honestly, concerned for his friends need for perfection.

                “But no one on Saisei Guild looks like they really want to be part of this mission. Most of them lack the ambition or passion required to take on a mission of this size. I want people who share the same vision as me, and who won’t want to quit or give up halfway through if the going gets tough.” Shizuma sighed at Reiji’s determination. “I know you want me to give it up, but we still have time before the deadline.”

                “Okay, but if you don’t find enough members before dinner tonight, we are going to pick them from the Guild.” Shizuma would not budge on this, so Reiji accepted his terms.

                The both of them headed out to eat lunch. The staff had prepared a platter of sandwiches for the two of them to take to the training grounds. They had decided Reiji should spend some time today practicing alongside Shizuma and take a break from searching for team members.

Shizuma kept his staff in his bedroom, so the two of them stopped there on their way to the training area. Reiji took time to marvel at the size of the room. It was so incredibly tiny in his opinion and he couldn’t believe someone could find this acceptable. His attention snapped back to Shizuma when the latter spoke. “Are you all set to go?”

“Yes.” With that the two of them left the room and started to head down the hallway. As they walked, they could hear voices at the other end of the hallway.

“Yes! And I asked three times already! Three times each!”

“Instead of asking, why don’t you try demanding?” The two voices were easily recognized as Asuma and Yuri.

“Show off your skills a little,” Tetsu’s encouraging voice came.

“Yeah, I’ve seen what you can do when we spared together, and at the shooting range. They would be idiots not to take you along,” Kiyoto said.

“Please tell me Asuma’s not complaining to them that we rejected him,” Shizuma begged. Reiji nodded.

“He is.”

“He should realize he’s too young and inexperienced for adventuring,” Shizuma said. Shizuma didn’t want two of the most important people in his life to be in danger constantly, even if he would be there to protect both of them.

When Ichijyokan and Asuma rounded the corner they came face to face with Reiji and Shizuma. Kiyoto nearly avoided another collision with the pair, while Tetsu snickered at him. “Whoa, you guys came out of nowhere!” Kiyoto exclaimed.

“That’s what happens when you round a corner, unless you have x-ray vision,” Shiki said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Yuri almost facepalmed at his teams stupidity, but decided that would be too undignified.

“Did you hear all of that?” Asuma asked. Shizuma and Reiji both shrugged.

“Enough to hear you complaining again,” Shizuma said. “You know I do not approve of you joining a guild.”

“I’m only a year younger than Reiji, and there are plenty of people my age or younger joining guild! I have the skills to protect myself and to help you guys out! You know that I want to be a part as much as Reiji does! Besides, doesn’t every team need someone long ranged on it?” All of those were good points, but Shizuma didn’t want to agree.

“Do you get to decide what Asuma does with his life, and whether or not someone is allowed to join a guild?” Yuri asked Shizuma. Shizuma sputtered scrambling for a response. Reiji answered for him.

“As a matter of fact, no. I get to decide who joins the team, and Asuma gets to decide whether or not he would like to join a guild. Asuma is completely right, and he has the qualities I have been looking for in a teammate.” Asuma looked at Reiji with a hopeful expression.

“Does that mean I can join!?” Asuma shouted. Everyone around winced at the volume, but nevertheless, Reiji nodded.

“Calm down,” Reiji said as Asuma did a little happy dance and song. Asuma quickly calmed down and tried to look serious, but couldn’t fight the large grin on his face.

“If you really are serious about this, then you need to come with us to the training grounds.” Asuma groaned loudly.

“But I just came from there!” Reiji and Shizuma gave him a pointed look. “Ah, all right, fine, I’ll go!” The three of them bid farewell to Ichijyokan and headed to the training area. None of them caught Yuri’s sardonic comment amount Saisei needing to invest in big-boy pants.

Once they got to the training grounds, they set to work practicing. Shizuma practiced some of his blocking techniques as well as a few offensive ones while sparring against Reiji. Asuma practiced his accuracy, and Reiji his sword combat. The Saisei knights were the only ones out training at this hour, so the grounds were mostly empty.

“Well that was a great practice. I never realized how skilled you were with firearms, Asuma,” Reiji said, really impressed with the difference in Asuma’s ability from the last time he saw him practice. It had been a couple years, so the difference was to be expected.

“I’ve been practicing hard for a long time! You have to be good if you want to join a guild,” Asuma said. Reiji nodded and hummed in agreement. He was about to comment, when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Captain of the Knights push a knight down harshly. Immediately, Reiji grew concerned.

“You’re worthless, boy. You can hardly use a sword, and I don’t care if you think you are hot shit with a spear. You are nothing and your attitude is really pissing me off. You are nothing special and you won’t ever be.” Reiji finally recognized the boy as the one he and Shizuma had saw practicing by the west tower several days previous.

“Woah, I’m glad I am not him,” Asuma said, disregarding the scene and heading inside. Reiji grabbed his arm.

“Do you think the way he is being treated is okay? We saw how good he was, remember, the boy with the spear the other day?” Asuma’s eyes widened.

“Oh yeah! He was super cool!” Asuma said, and then looked confused, “Why is he being treated like this when he’s that good?”

“The Saisei Knights only allow the lower knights to have swords, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a knight with a spear,” Shizuma said, looking sad. “He might be extremely good, but that doesn’t matter to them unless he is good with a sword.”

“Well it matters to me,” Reiji said, stepping forward. Shizuma said his name in a harsh whisper, but Reiji ignored it and instead walked over and stood right in front of the Captain of the Knights. He looked surprised about finding Reiji there.

“Your Highness, what can I do for you?” He said, feeling uncomfortable now knowing Reiji probably saw his outburst with one of the knights.

“I would like you to tell me exactly what you think you are doing?”

“Simply disciplining this knight! When he got accepted, he was half decent with a sword, but well versed in battle. In the three months he has been here, his sword training has not improved, and he keeps going off to practice with other weapons! He is a disgrace to the knights, and I think that it is time that he is let go.” The knight looked a bit ashamed, but also a bit defiant. He had a determined expression in his eyes that Reiji liked.

“So he is released from his duty as a knight?” Reiji confirmed.

“Yes,” the Captain of the Knights said, glad Reiji did not sound disappointed or appalled.

“Good,” Reiji then turned to the boy. “What is your name?”

“I am Tasuku Senoo,” the boy said with an accent.

“It’s nice to meet you Tasuku,” Reiji said smiling, “I saw you practicing with your spear the—”

“It’s a lance, actually,” Tasuku said, not even seeming to mind he just corrected the prince.

“Sorry. I saw you practicing with your lance and I thought you were very good. Are you interested in using your skill to help the country?”

“Yes, that is why I came here,” Tasuku said. “I figured if I could become a knight, I could help the citizens in need.”

“Would you be interested in joining me, and Saisei Guild on a mission to save the world?” Reiji asked seriously. Tasuku seemed to ponder this, realizing it must be something to do with the quest the King was sending guilds on.

“I would be very much interested,” Tasuku decided.

“It’s settled,” Reiji stated. “We now have four members of our team.” He took Tasuku over to meet Shizuma and Asuma, and introductions were made. Noticing it was getting late, Shizuma informed Reiji that he should be heading to dinner.

“We will see you in the morning Tasuku,” Reiji said. “Where are you staying? We could meet…” Reiji trailed off. Tasuku was likely staying in the barracks for the knights, like the rest of the knights. Seeing Tasuku’s awkward expression, Reiji knew his guess was right. “Actually, why don’t you stay in the guest bedroom of the castle? It would be nice to have you close by.”

“I’ll have a room set up for him immediately,” Shizuma said. Tasuku sighed.

“Thank you.”

“First I have to take Reiji to the dining hall, so…?” Tasuku got the hint and told them he would wait here.

“I can take Reiji to the dining hall,” Asuma said. Shizuma cringed a little, knowing Asuma was not well suited for duties within the castle. As if he read his mind, Reiji spoke up reassuring Shizuma that him and Asuma would be all right. With a sigh, Shizuma let them go.

“If you would follow me,” Shizuma said to Tasuku taking him to the wing where guests spent the night at the castle. Due to the event tomorrow, Shizuma knew there were not a whole lot of rooms available, and when Shizuma found the Head Maid, he inquired about having a room set up.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Shizuma, but we are completely full up,” she said with an apologetic smile. Shizuma knew they could not just let this poor guy sleep outside, so he decided he would find a room. Perhaps not an empty room, but a room all the same.

“I guess I’ll head into town and stay at an Inn,” Tasuku said with a sigh. The prices at the Inn were outrageous, and he could hardly afford a night there.

“No no!” Shizuma said quickly, “I’ll find you somewhere to sleep, don’t worry.”  Shizuma had no idea where, but he was not going to let Reiji or Tasuku down. Shizuma asked Tasuku to wait for him by in a chair conveniently located in the hallway, so Tasuku sat down to wait.

It had been a crazy evening for sure. He went from being one of the Saisei Knights to being part of the Saisei Guild in only a few short minutes. Not only did Tasuku get to meet and speak with Prince Reiji, but he was also going to get to fight and adventure alongside of him. It was like a dream come true to the dragoon.

“Where haven’t I checked yet?” A voice snapped Tasuku out of his thoughts. A short boy with green hair was standing by a vase on the other side of the hallway, only a couple of feet away from Tasuku.

“Did you lose something?” Tasuku asked, causing the boy to jump and clutch at his heart.

“Oh, um, no, nothing at all,” Kaede said laughing sheepishly and avoiding eye-contact with the former knight. Tasuku raised one eyebrow, unconvinced. “No really! It’s nothing you need to be concerned about, um, Sir…”

“I am no longer a knight,” Tasuku said. The boy blinked.

“Really? Then why are you here?” After asking such a stupid question, the boy mentally kicked himself.

“I have joined Saisei Guild,” Tasuku said. The boy made an ‘o’ shape with his mouth and then brightened up.

“Well if you are part of a guild, will you complete an informal quest for me? I promise to give you a reward,” the boy said, looking desperate. Tasuku decided to take pity on the boy and agreed.

“Great! My name’s Kaede Okumura, by the way.”

“Tasuku Senoo, now what is it that you want me to do?” Kaede looked uncomfortable for a moment, and then gestured for Tasuku to come closer. Apparently it was a secret mission.

“You see, there is a critter on the loose, and I need it back before anyone notices it…” Tasuku gave him a skeptical look.

“What kind of critter are we talking about?”

“I can’t tell you, someone might overhear.” Tasuku looked at the empty hallway, and gave Kaede another look. This sounded dumb. “Oh, and I need it back alive,” Kaede added.

“You seriously want me to look around for some _mystery_ creature and bring it back alive without anyone finding out it is here?” Kaede nodded, happy Tasuku seemed to understand his plight. Tasuku made an unhappy noise. “The reward for this better be great.”

“Oh it will be,” Kaede assured.

“You’re not even going to tell me what I get!?” Tasuku shrieked. Kaede shushed him.

“I promise it is great, and you’ll love it! Just get going, we don’t have all day,” Kaede said, waving to Tasuku as he sprinted down the hallway in the opposite direction to look for his ‘critter’. Tasuku groaned, but headed down the hallway to begin his search. Hopefully this critter couldn’t open doors, because most of these rooms were occupied.

As Tasuku looked carefully at the hallway, he noticed that one room door was slightly ajar. Taking his chances, Tasuku approached. He knocked on the door softly first, and when no one replied, he went ahead and walked in. The room was mostly tidy, but had sheets of papers strewn haphazardly across the floor. The bed was made and some armor was set up against the wall in an orderly fashion. Looking at the papers, Tasuku noticed they were notes on monsters. Fighting his instinct to study the sheets for future reference, he focused on the task at hand. Careful inspection revealed a scuff mark on the ground. Walking around to the other side of the bed to get a better look, Tasuku noticed the air vent had been torn open…by a critter.

“Well, looks like I found what I was looking for,” Tasuku said, peering into the air vent. It was big enough for him to fit through, so it looked like he was going to have to go on a search for the critter. Tasuku wiggled his way in, hoping he wouldn’t get stuck—it was a tight squeeze—and clambered up the air vent. It was pretty dark in there, but Tasuku could see well enough to make out shapes.

After crawling through the air vent for fifteen minutes, Tasuku was starting to lose hope, until he heard a noise coming from the next bend. Moving quickly, Tasuku planned on grabbing the critter before it escaped. He only hoped it wasn’t dangerous. As soon as he turned around the bend, he grabbed at the figure he saw and held tight. The creature let loose a soft “Nya!” and struggled. This thing must have been one big cat.

Knowing he would have to drag it all the way back to where he had entered the air vent, in order not to exit somewhere where people might see the critter, Tasuku had to subdue the creature. Before he could though, he felt a sharp pain in his right hand. It must have got him with its claws. The wound stung, but Tasuku remained strong.

He hadn’t planned on a creature this big, so it was impossible to subdue it, but a few tugs proved he was stronger than the critter. It wiggled and wormed, but it was unable to escape Tasuku’s grasp. Tasuku was definitely going to have a few more scratch marks by the end though.

XxX

                Dinner went wonderfully for Reiji, as he was able to talk to many guild members and get great advice. He still had not found his remaining two members, and the Saisei Guild manager was getting impatient, but that wasn’t too important to Reiji. He needed to find the right two people, or he would never be satisfied with his guild. Reiji was disappointed when he remembered his promise to Shizuma, as that meant that he was going to have to settle with people that were not exactly perfect for his guild.

                “Did you tell your father?” Asuma asked, as he walked with Reiji back to the guest hallway. They were planning on meeting Tasuku and Shizuma there.

“Not yet,” Reiji said, knowing Asuma would not judge him like Shizuma would. “I plan on telling him tomorrow morning.”

“Shizuma isn’t going to be happy with that, but whatever,” Asuma said with an uncaring shrug. Unlike Shizuma, he didn’t care to get in the Suwa family’s business.

“I know, I know,” Reiji said. As they got closer to the hallway, they saw Kaede crouched down in a corner. Getting concerned for Kaede’s mental wellbeing, the two approached.

“Is everything okay, Kaede?” Asuma asked the boy. Over the course of the past couple of days, Asuma and Kaede had had a few chances to talk, and Asuma found he liked the short, green-haired boy.

“Asuma! Prince Reiji!” Kaede exclaimed loudly, turning around but still crouching.

“What are you hiding?” Reiji asked curiously.

“Hiding?” Kaede asked in a slightly panicked tone. If the prince found out, Kaede was going to get in trouble. “What makes you think I’m—” A low grunting sound cut Kaede off. “Nugget, be quiet!” Kaede hissed.

“Nugget?” Asuma asked, “Who’s Nugget?” Kaede knew he had messed up, and internally kicked himself for the second time that day. Take a chance, Kaede decided to come clean and hopefully avoid a terrible punishment.

“This is Nugget,” Kaede said, sidestepping to reveal a wild boar. The monster came up to Reiji’s knees and had a vicious expression on its face. Asuma knew for a fact that that was a monster, and it was not a friendly pet.

“Kaede, you might want to step away—”

“Nugget, quit giving them a scary face!” Kaede snapped, snapping a whip. Nugget flinched a little, but looked apologetic, and gave a much nicer and friendlier face. Kaede bent down to praise the creature.

“You…?” Reiji was speechless. Training monsters was a very difficult task, and many of the people who did it treated them harshly and abused them. Kaede was loving and gentle with this creature and treated it like it was alive, instead of a product or tool.

“I know, I know,” Kaede said, bowing apologetically to Reiji. “I shouldn’t keep monsters here, and I’m really sorry that he got out.”

“No, no, it’s all right,” Reiji said, still amazed at this boy’s attitude and compassion. “You are amazing,” he said honestly.

“You really think so?” Kaede asked beaming. “It’s always been something I wanted to do. I’ve been training really hard so I could join Saisei Guild, but when I tried out, they told me I was too young and that I was too soft.” Kaede’s voice got really dejected at the end. Reiji felt really bad for him.

“You know what? I think you would be perfect for the guild. They cannot refuse your membership if I am the one who invites you, right?” Reiji asked. Kaede’s eyes lit up. “How would you like to join my team and help me save the world?”

“It would be the greatest honor!” Kaede said, extremely happy. Reiji pulled out the parchment and pen and added Kaede’s name under Tasuku. As he did so, Kaede looked over. “Oh no!”

“What’s wrong?” Asuma asked.

“Tasuku! I asked him to help, but I never told him I found Nugget!”

“Really?” Reiji asked surprised Tasuku and Kaede knew each other. “We were just headed to see him. We can tell him if you would like.” Kaede shook his head.

“No, I need to tell him in person and give him his reward.”

“All right then. We can go together.” The three of them headed down that way, bumping into Shizuma along the way, since Shizuma was also on his way to see Tasuku, he was happy to join them.

“So I found Tasuku a room for tonight. He’ll be sharing with your sparring coach,” Shizuma told the group.

“That’s great news. We also have news for you,” Reiji said. “I found the fifth member.”

“Oh, really? Who?”

“Me!” Kaede said, holding a rope that was attached to Nugget. Shizuma had been wary of the creature before, but as they walked he could see how well behaved it was. He still made sure to stay between it and Reiji, though.

“That’s wonderful!” Shizuma said. He had heard from his father that Kaede was quite an accomplished beast master. When they arrived at the correct hallway, they could hear screaming coming from a room. Wondering what could be disturbing the guests so, the group decided to investigate. As the got closer they could hear the familiar shouts of Ichijyokan. Wondering what the group was up to this time, Reiji walked through the open door. The sight before him was unexpected.

In the room, not only was Ichijyokan Guild there, but Tasuku and a stranger as well. Tasuku was holding onto the stranger like he thought the boy was going to escape, and everyone was shouting. “Quiet down!” Reiji bellowed. Everyone immediately got silent when they noticed the prince and his team.

“What is going on in here?” Shizuma asked.

“I think I can explain,” Shiki said, at the same time though, everyone started talking at once. Getting fed up, Reiji walked to Tasuku and the mystery boy, Kaede following along with his boar.

“Tasuku, who is this?”

“I don’t know. Apparently, he is a thief, at least according to Ichijyokan. I thought he was a cat.” Reiji was a little confused by the last bit, but the guy did look like a thief. He had all kinds of trinkets covering his body and a pouch of gold hidden in one of his shoes. Reiji was able to tell the last bit, because one shoe had been removed and was now laying neglected on the ground.

“Aww, I’m not a thief,” the boy said. “I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, nya.”

“Yeah, and you just happen to have the same items we are missing,” Yuri scoffed.

“Did you take something of theirs?” Reiji asked the alleged thief. The boy shook his head.

“Nope, I think they got the wrong guy. See I just wandered in here while following a, um, pig.”

“A pig?” Tasuku asked.

“Nugget!” Kaede exclaimed, looking down at his precious boar.

“Oh so you found it,” Tasuku said. “If I hadn’t been looking for that damn critter, I would have never of crawled into the air vent.”

“If you didn’t crawl into the air vent, then this thief would have ran free!” Tetsu yelled.

“Woah, woah, woah!” the boy exclaimed. “I am not a thief!”

“We’ll see about that,” Reiji said. “Asuma, why don’t you search his pockets?” Asuma didn’t respond right away. “Asuma!” Reiji shouted, snapping his fingers in front of Asuma’s dazed face. He quickly snapped into focus.

“Sorry, what?” Asuma asked. Reiji didn’t know what was wrong with his friend, but it would have to come later. They needed to find out whether or not this guy was really a thief.

“Can you search him?” Reiji gestured to the boy, and Asuma gulped, nodding slowly.

“There’s no need for that, nya,” the boy said. “The excuses people make to touch my body.” Asuma’s face turned bright red, but he soldiered through it. He began digging his hands in the various pockets and compartments of the boy’s outfit, pulling out money, priceless artifacts, pieces of gear, and much more. Reiji was amazed by some of the stuff the boy had. One of the crowns he had stolen was under top security.

“Did you get all of this by yourself?” Reiji asked, knowing there was no way only one person could steal this much without getting caught.

“Yup! It was a piece of cake actually,” the now confirmed thief said proudly. “I would have gotten away with it to if it weren’t for this handsome knight and his crazy boyfriend with the pig.”

“His name is Nugget!”

“I’m not a knight anymore,” Tasuku and Kaede spoke at the same time. The thief expected them to have something else to say about his statement, but some people have weird priorities.

 “Right. Anyway, I guess it is jail for me. Guess I wasn’t so lucky this time, nya.”

“What is your name?” Reiji asked suddenly, surprising everyone in the room.

“My name?” the thief also looked confused by Reiji’s behavior. “It’s Bantaro Chiyomatsu, but you can call me Ban-chan.”

“Why do you steal?” Reiji asked.

“To make people happy of course! Sometimes it is hard to even put food on the table for some people. To see their smiling faces when I give them money or food is worth the risk of getting caught.” Reiji smiled at his response. He could tell Bantaro was a truly special person.

“Would you be willing to give up stealing from people in exchange for lending me—”

“Reiji, you can’t be serious,” Shizuma said. Everyone else was in similar states of disbelief.

“—a hand in saving the world. I promise that you will be rewarded handsomely for your efforts.” Bantaro looked totally surprised.

“You would spare me?” Bantaro asked, surprised by the prince’s words.

“I know that you are truly a beautiful person, and you are extremely talented. I think my team could use you.”

“Well, it’s either this or the dungeons,” Bantaro said. “I’m in!” Reiji turned to the rest of his team. They looked slightly appalled.

“This is not happening,” Shizuma said.

“He’s a thief!” Tasuku protested.

“I am the prince, as well as leader of this team, and I have made my decision,” Reiji said finally. It was useless arguing with Reiji when his mind was made up, and Shizuma knew that best. Despite not really approving of Reiji’s decision, Shizuma had to accept it.

“I suppose it is settled,” Shizuma said. The other three members turned to him, expecting him to argue their case. If Shizuma gave up there was no hope.

“So it is,” Tasuku said not really comfortable with being around a law breaker.

“He’s a changed person now, right Nugget?” Kaede asked, turning to the boar for reassurance. Asuma was still speechless.

“See Shizuma, I found the team that I wanted, and right in time,” Reiji said smiling. He had found the perfect team, and he knew they were going to go far on this mission.


	5. Chapter Five

                The city of Kanagawa was huge; almost three times the size of home. Having been here before, that didn’t surprise Heath. What did, however, was the amount of people currently roaming the streets. The city was normally busy, but with the event going on, it seemed the amount of people had gone up exponentially.

“We’ll need to stay close if you guys don’t want to get lost,” Heath said seriously. Riku snickered at him thinking it was a joke, but Heath gestured to the amount of people here. “If you stray too far from the group, there is no way we will be able to find you easily. Do you see how many people are here?”

“Oh, Hozumi, stay close, darling. We are adrift among a sea of fishes,” Ayumu said dramatically. “I know they are seeking to tear us apart.”

“Hold me, Ayumu, or we might get lost,” Hozumi said, grabbing onto his friend, and forcefully shoving himself into his arms. “Just like this. If only we could be together like this forever!”

“Cut it out,” Heath said, tired of them not only being ridiculous, but also somewhat mocking him. “You could seriously get lost.”

“Of course, Heath,” Hozumi said, “Of course, of course.” An eye-roll accompanied his last statement.

“Let’s just keep moving,” Takeru said, nerves making him want to get to the castle courtyard as soon as possible. The King was giving a speech there today about the mission, and he didn’t want to miss it. The rest of the group agreed, and they kept moving. Heath still wasn’t pleased with being disregarded, but he got over it.

After a while of walking and bumping people, the group finally made it to the castle. “Well, here is the castle,” Heath said, as a knight showed them the way to the courtyard. There were already so many people there, and they could see lots of famous guilds.

“Wow, look at all of them,” Riku said, surprised by the amount of people. “Everyone here is our competition, I guess.”

“We need to look for people who don’t have emblems. If we can find someone who isn’t part of a guild, we don’t have to force Nana to fight.” The group nodded.

“That would be nice, wouldn’t it, Nana?” Ayumu asked. He expected to get an immediate reply, but when he got none, he looked around frantically. “Guys! We lost Nana!” The group went into panic mode and started searching around the courtyard. They had to find the poor girl before something terrible happened to her. But when and where did they lose her?

XxX

“I’m so excited!” Nana said happily as she followed along behind the group. She was walking a little slower so she could look at all of the shops and stalls set up. There were many different kinds of foods and smells and it was making Nana hungry. They hadn’t had time to each much today, so she figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask the group if they wanted to stop and eat. Just as she began to talk and turned back toward the group, she noticed something. They were missing.

“Oh, well I guess Heath was right,” Nana said, trying not to panic. She could stay calm and collected, and find them herself. She took a couple deep breaths and decided to ask around. “Excuse me!” she said calling to a boy looking at a stall nearby.

“Yes, can I help you?”

“I’m looking for my friends. They are all guys and there are five of them and they have two glasses, I mean people who wear glasses, and they um, have different hair colors, except some of them have similar ones, but one is green,” Nana spewed out, trying not to let her panic show. The boy chuckled quietly, trying not to upset the girl.

“I imagine if they are a guild, they would be in the courtyard, right?” the boy said. Nana blinked. That was where they were all headed. She was just so caught up in being separated, that it caused her to forget something so obvious.

“Oh, you’re right! Thank you!” With that, Nana set off for the courtyard. After a couple minutes of going in circles, she realized she was completely lost. She could see the castle from where she was standing, but she couldn’t seem to find a path there. Bummed out and feeling a little sorry for herself, Nana decided she should sit down for a moment to rest her feet and think about how she was going to get there.

Nana sat down on a nearby bench and watched the people come and go. That’s when an idea hit her. She could follow another guild to the courtyard. With that plan in mind she avidly looked for guilds from her superior vantage point, the bench. After ten minutes passed with no guilds in sight, she grew dejected and slumped down on the bench.

“Are you lost?” a male voice asked from behind her. Nana shrieked and jumped up from the bench before turning around. A tall boy with long white hair was standing behind the bench.

“And if I am?” Nana asked, weary of the strange man. Her uncle and Sakura-chan taught her to be very weary of strange men, as they might try to do untoward things to her. He looked familiar to Nana, but she couldn’t place where she had seen him.

“Just follow the wind, it will guide you if you listen,” he said, before walking away. Nana thought about the advice. She didn’t really understand it, but what she caught was ‘wind’ and ‘guide’. Nana decided she had nothing to lose. Picking up a leaf that had fallen off of a nearby tree, she held it up to see which way the wind was blowing. Seeing it was blowing left, she decided she should go the same way.

Nana carried the leaf with her, checking to make sure the direction of the wind didn’t change as she walked in the direction of the castle, hopefully. When she made it to the castle gate, she almost cried in relief. The guard took her to the courtyard, and she almost lost all hope. The place was packed, and she had no idea where her friends might be. Noticing she still had the leaf in her hand, she decided to take her chances and follow in the direction of the wind.

“Nana!” Riku yelled after spotting his friend. She was walking around holding a leaf out in front of her, which was a little concerning, but Riku figured he could worry about it later. All that was important was that he found Nana.

“There she is!” Hozumi yelled from on top of Heath’s shoulders. Hozumi had managed to convince the taller man that a higher vantage point would help him spot Nana. Seeing as Riku found her first, that proved to be false. Ayumu was still grumpy he lost to Hozumi at rock, paper, scissors.

“I found you!” Nana said, happy she wasn’t alone anymore. “I thought I never would!”

“I told you guys,” Heath said setting down Hozumi. “I said that someone would get lost, but you guys just laughed.” Everyone felt bad for not taking Heath seriously and not taking better care of Nana.

“We’re sorry we didn’t notice you get lost, Nana,” Ayumu said, truly feeling bad.

“It’s okay. I just knew on a windy day, the wind pushes you towards the tallest building!” The others looked at Nana like she was crazy. “Okay, okay, some guy told me that! Isn’t that a cool piece of advice?” Heath’s face lit up.

“Kyosuke…?” he muttered.

“Who?” Nana asked.

“A former Honan Guild member would always say things like that,” Heath explained. “He left the guild after the accident last year.”

“Good riddance,” Hozumi muttered. Nana, Riku, and Takeru were alarmed at how angry the older boy seemed to be.

“Kyosuke is the one responsible for—” Ayumu was jabbed in the gut by Hozumi. Ayumu fell to the ground and clutched his side, screaming ‘man down, man down!’.

“Anyway, I think the King is about to deliver his speech,” Hozumi said, pointing at the balcony hanging over the courtyard. The King came out with a grumpy look on his face and he seemed to be glaring at the prince.  Everyone in the courtyard immediately bowed.

“Thank you all for coming today!” King Suwa bellowed. His voice was loud enough to reach everyone in the courtyard. “I want to start off by saying that I am proud of you all for being so brave and noble, and willing to lay down your life for the safety of the people!” Everyone clapped some, and then he continued. “You all probably know by now that I have a mission of great importance that needs to be done, and the reward for it is great. But no one knows exactly what that mission is. Unfortunately I will not be telling you that now.”

The crowd went into a bit of an uproar but the King managed to settle them down. “I will only be enlisting the help of those guilds who can pass an entry test. Do not worry, this test will not be too dangerous, and it will be under control. I want all guilds with six fighters to find a knight nearby and sign their guild up for the test.” Many people scrambled to find a knight to sign up. The King stepped back seemingly done with his speech, and the prince stepped forward. Everyone fell silent.

“Hello everyone! For those of you who do not know, I’m Prince Reiji Suwa!” He smiled and waved to the crowd. “I will also be participating in the entry trial to be a part of this great mission!” That got the crowd buzzing again. “I look forward to seeing you all there!” He stepped back and the King had his grumpy face on again. A man took Reiji’s arm and ushered him back inside. The king gave one last wave before disappearing inside as well.

“That’s unexpected,” Takeru said, still staring at where the prince had spoken.

“No kidding!” Hozumi exclaimed. “The prince himself will be participating!”

“I hear Prince Yuri from Hokkaido joined Ichijyokan Guild and will be participating in this as well,” Heath said.

“Really? This thing must be pretty big if we have Princes taking part,” Ayumu said. “Ah! Now I’m feeling really nervous!”

“Relax, the entry test will be tomorrow,” Heath said, holding out the sheet he received when he signed up. “Apparently the guilds will be divided into two or three groups, depending on how many guilds sign up, and the trial will take place in the castle’s basement labyrinth.”

“That sounds really freaky!” Ayumu said shuddering. “What if we never get out?”

“We’ll make it out, don’t worry,” Hozumi said, patting his best friend on the shoulder.

“If it’s tomorrow, what are we going to do today?” Nana asked, hoping they could go shopping.

“I need new clothes!” Hozumi exclaimed. “I look like a hobo with my ripped shirt and pants!” The others really wanted to disagree, but none of them could bring themselves to lie to Hozumi.

“I need a bath,” Heath said. While traveling they only had the opportunity to bath in a river on the second day, so they all smelled a little ripe… especially since they were covered in monster gunk.

Riku had been silent the whole time, and Takeru had noticed. He was staring into the crowd like he had seen a ghost. Takeru approached him and was about to ask him if he was okay, when a voice interrupted him. “Oh Heath!” called a feminine voice. Heath cringed.

“We need to walk away, right now,” Heath said, ushering them along.

“Don’t try to run away from me,” the same woman repeated. Ayumu had a blissful smile on his face.

“I love your sister, Heath,” he said.

“You have a sister!?” exclaimed Nana. Heath sighed. Soon enough, Heath’s sister approached.

“Hey guys! I’m Diane,” the woman introduced herself. “I am the president of D’s International.”

“Really?” Takeru asked surprised. D’s International owned three of the best brands of armor in the world, JSTT, Hercules, and Aurora. They were too expensive for Takeru to afford though.

“Stop trying to win them over with your success,” Heath complained.

“Oh quiet, you,” Diane said. “Anyway, I think you guys need to come back to my shop with me.” She eyed Hozumi up and down. “Especially you.” Hozumi groaned, but he wanted nice clothes, so he was more than happy to go with her. As the group set off, Heath and Takeru noticed Riku was still in a bit of a daze.

“Riku, you okay?” asked Heath.

“I saw him, I know I did, but he’s…” Heath immediately knew what Riku was talking about. Riku must mean his older brother.

“You mean Tomoe, right?” Heath asked. Riku looked surprised that Heath knew of his brother and Takeru looked confused.

“You knew him?”

“Yeah, I was a part of Honan Guild when he was still around. I even went on that last quest.” Riku was surprised. He had thought that everyone had died.

“You survived!?”

“Yeah, by some miracle.” Riku was jealous. Why couldn’t his brother have been one of the ones to survive? He just had to die.

“So wait,” Takeru said confused. “You saw your dead brother?” Riku’s face fell as he nodded.

“Maybe I’m just going crazy, but I swear I saw him.” Heath wrapped his arm around Riku, feeling the need to protect the younger boy for Tomoe.

“It’ll be okay. Why don’t we just get to Diane’s shop and then find a place to stay.” Riku didn’t look particularly happy about that, but he agreed anyway. When they arrived at the shop, Hozumi chuckled.

“And here we thought you three got lost somewhere in the crowd!” Hozumi said, still poking fun at Heath. After they got over Nana disappearing and she turned out to be fine, the joke was funny once more.

“Stop your arguing and get in here,” Diane said, getting impatient. She had received word that her darling baby brother and friends were going to take part in the mission so she prepared some armor for them. Only, she didn’t know Riku, Takeru, and Nana and so the armor she picked out for them was not quite right.

“I think it looks cool!” Nana said gushing over a suit of 50 pound armor. She lifted up the shield that was too heavy for her. She couldn’t hold it up so it dropped to the floor, only centimeters from her toes. “Ooh, that was close,” she said, ignoring the dent she made in the floor. Diane didn’t seem to mind, as she thought Nana trying to wear this armor was too cute.

“I don’t think that’s going to fit you,” Takeru said, looking over the bright pink clothes that were picked out for him. He cringed at the color. Something more subtle would be more practical, and anyone who bought this color was going to attract monsters.

“What is this?” Riku asked, flipping over the skirt in his hands. “Is this a hat, or does it go on your shoulders?” Diane laughed at his cuteness, and helped him pull it on over his pants.

“I’m not wearing a skirt!” Riku blushed, finally realizing that’s what it was.

“And neither am I!” Hozumi shouted, protesting the numerous skirts and dresses Diane had laid out before him. Ayumu on the other hand seemed to appreciate fancy coat and pants that Diane had picked out for him.

“I’m going to go try this on,” Ayumu said, heading to the dressing rooms. Heath was also not opposed to what Diane had picked out for him. He went to the other dressing room to try it on. Diane sighed and looked at her three unhappy customers and Nana.

“I’ll go get you something you might like,” and with that, she scurried off to find some clothes. Once Ayumu came out, they took some time to appreciate his new outfit. He had on black pants with armor on the thighs, a pink shirt with decorative buttons, a white laboratory-esque coat, and white gloves. The outfit was completed with black boots, and a belt that held all different sorts of compartments for items and a place for his dagger.

“You look really good!” Hozumi said, gushing over the outfit.

“I know, and there is so much more room for me to carry things!” Ayumu opened up the inside of his coat to reveal more space for items.

“I hope I get a cool outfit like that,” Hozumi said. As soon as he finished speaking, Heath came out of the dressing room. Heath had a set of traditional style of samurai armor, but made out of lighter material and without some pieces of armor. The armor on the thighs and upper chest were gone and so the soft, green material of the shirt and pants could be seen. The pants were looser fitting and had flower designs on them. That matched the designs on the shirt.

“You look so cool too!” Hozumi screeched. Heath did a couple of poses in his new outfit before deciding he liked it.

“This is so much easier to move in and a lot lighter than most of what’s available on the market.”

“Glad you two like it,” Diane said, handing a bundle of clothes to Hozumi, Takeru, and Riku. She assured Nana that they would pick something out after the boys finished changing.

Hozumi came out first in his outfit. He was wearing a cheongsam dress with the same flower design as Heath’s outfit, with white shorts on underneath to protect his dignity. He white, suede slip-on shoes that were comfortable. “Really, Diane?” Hozumi asked in disbelief. The fact that she would never give him male clothes made him want to cry.

“Okay, I’ll give you some male clothes,” she said, smirking when she saw Heath and Ayumu’s faces. “Though I think your teammates like your outfit.” She picked up a pair of loose-fitting pants almost identical to Heath’s, but in yellow and a white shirt. Hozumi gratefully changed into that, keeping his favorite yellow scarf with the outfit. “But you have to keep the other set as backup!” Diane said. Hozumi sighed but agreed.

Takeru had finished changing next, not having to put on armor like Riku. His outfit consisted of a dark blue shirt, brown gloves and boots, and black pants. There was also a dark blue sash around his waist that sat under his bag. The outfit also came with a new quiver which he had slug across his back. While his outfit might have seemed plain, he enjoyed it.

“You look really good, Takeru!” Nana complimented, “That color suits you!”

“How do I look?” Riku asked, coming out of the dressing room. He had on white pants with black boots, a red shirt with dark red pieces armor on his arms, shoulders, and legs. The pieces of armor had strange white glyphs on them that seemed to glow. He had a black belt around his was that had a sheath for his sword as well as a bag on the other side for small items.

“You look really good!” Nana said seriously, “But why are those things on you armor glowing?”

“Let me answer that,” Diane said, looking smug. “I heard Riku does a bit of magic, and so I gave him armor that will help raise his magic power and make his spells stronger.”

“That’s so cool!” Riku said happily.

“Now it’s Nana’s turn,” Diane said. “Why don’t we pick out your outfit together?” Diane was having the hardest timing deciding for Nana, as Nana had not really found her place in battle yet.

“But what about this?” Nana asked, gesturing to the armor that was much too heavy for her.

“Why don’t we stick to cloth armor, so your body has time to get used to the—”

“Oh my gosh!” Nana exclaimed looking at a pink, white mage inspired dress. “Can I have this?”

“That would look really good on you,” Heath agreed. The dress was a little shorter than normal, and was pink with brown accents instead of the usual white with red. It also had a layer of brown armor under the skirt, and a brown belt around the waist. Nana tried the outfit on and picked a pair of brown boots to go with it.

“Wow, you look great!” Riku said, admiring her outfit.

“Thanks! I really love it,” Nana said giving a twirl.

“Well if you like it,” Diane said, wishing they picked something out with a little more protection for the girl. From what she heard from Heath, it sounded like Nana was not afraid to get in close.

“Are we going to have to pay for these?” Takeru asked, knowing he could not afford even an accessory in this store.

“Of course not, all you have to do is promise me that you’ll accomplish this quest and bring fame to my store. Oh and I’ll sew on emblems for you if you would like.” Diane pulled out a needle and some thread.

“We’ll do our best,” Heath muttered, not even knowing yet if they would pass the entry test. Though Nana and Ayumu were good, they were not quite up to the level of taking down anything past a couple of wolves. Riku and Takeru were surprisingly better than he expected, but he still didn’t know if they had what it took.

“I know we can do it,” Takeru said, “as long as we work together.” His short speech didn’t really motivate Heath much, but he could tell it made the rest happy.

After Diane finished sewing, Heath was ready to go. “Okay,” Heath said, grabbing everyone’s attention. “We need to stay somewhere tonight.” He looked to Diane hopefully.

“I don’t think so,” Diane said. “Why don’t you just stay at the castle like the other guilds? As long as you registered, there should be a room for you.”

“Really? In the castle?” Riku asked.

“Yeah. It’s probably a once in a lifetime chance.”

“Well I guess we can check it out,” Heath said.

“Come, Princess Hozumi,” Ayumu said with a bow, “I shall escort you back home to the castle.”

“Thank you, oh brave peasant,” Hozumi said, handing Ayumu his hand. “Let us hurry. I mustn’t stay up later than sunset.” Ayumu snorted at him, but quickly recovered and took his hand. He placed a gentle kiss on it before standing up and looping his arm through Hozumi’s. The two of them quickly lead the way to the castle.

When they got there, the guard at the front gate stopped them. “Are you guys a guild?”

“Honan Guild,” Heath answered. The guard looked surprised as he checked his list.

“I can’t believe Honan Guild is back. Here I thought they were disbanded for violence among members.”

“There was no violence among members,” Hozumi spat quietly. “One member just decided to go on a killing spree.”

“Hey,” Heath said. “There’s no need for that.” The guard found their name on the list and escorted them inside the castle.

“It’s beautiful!” Ayumu said.

“Look at all of this art!” Nana exclaimed looking at the paintings and vases lining the hallway. Once they arrived at the room, they realized they had a problem. They only had one room, and they had a girl on their team. Nana was the first to walk in after the guard opened the door for them and turned around. “What are you guys waiting for?” she asked confused.

“Well, you might want your privacy and all,” Riku stuttered out.

“Do you guys want to sleep in the hallway? Just come in here,” Nana said, not at all bothered by the fact that she would have to sleep with five other guys. They all shuffled in awkwardly as Nana flopped down on one of the two beds in the room. Heath quickly claimed the other one for himself and Hozumi managed to wiggle his way on as well. That left Ayumu, Riku, and Takeru to find spots on the floor to sleep.

“We’ll use the sleeping bags,” Ayumu said. “We can pretend we are camping out.” The other boys agreed to the idea and set up their bags on the floor. While they were debating whether they should leave to find something to eat, a knock sounded on the door. Heath got up and answered it.

“Hello, and thank you for participating,” the man who had knocked on the door said. “I came to inform you dinner will be served in a half an hour, so please come out into the hallway around that time. You will be escorted to the dining hall to eat.”

“Thank you,” Heath said.

“And if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to ask the staff and we will try to help you as best as possible.”

“Thank you,” Heath repeated. With that the man left and Heath shut the door. “We’re going to have to wait a half an hour to eat guys. Think you’ll make it?”

“No,” Hozumi groaned out, holding his stomach.

“Well, you’re going to have to try,” Heath said. The next half hour crawled by, but as soon as it was up, they headed out into the hallway. There were many other guilds there just like at the courtyard this morning.

“Right this way please!” a voice called. Soon everyone started heading down the hallway and into the dining hall. They took so many twists and turns, Riku hoped someone was going to escort them back too.

“Dinner will be here momentarily. Please feel free to take a seat wherever.” Honan Guild, like many other guilds decided to sit together, with three people on each side of the table. Takeru and Riku both flanked Nana, while Hozumi sat in the middle of Heath and Ayumu. Seats started to fill up fast, as there were many people there.

The doors to the room opened, and Prince Reiji entered, four people following behind. Instead of sitting at the end of the table, like a normal prince, Reiji took a seat next to Takeru. A seat was left between him and a boy who obviously dyed his hair and the other three sat down on the other side. Reiji gestured for one of the servants, the one who invited them for dinner and escorted them, to sit down next to him. Reiji then stood up.

“I know many of you are wondering why I am sitting here when I should be at the end of the table, but in this setting, I am no longer a prince. I am a member of a guild just like everyone else here. These five,” Reiji gestured to the people he was sitting with, “are my teammates for this mission. I hope you will treat us all kindly.” With that he sat down. Takeru was still in awe that the prince of Kanagawa sat next to _him_. His mouth wasn’t working and he couldn’t help but to stare. Reiji chuckled at this, expecting this reaction.

“Please don’t treat me any differently than anyone else,” Reiji asked. “Now, why don’t you tell me your names? Is this your guild?

“Yes, we’re Honan Guild, and I’m Takeru Fujiwara,” Takeru said, getting ahold of himself. Everyone else went through introductions, and Reiji introduced his team.

“I thought the Honan Guild was disbanded,” Reiji said, and then he realized that sounded rude, especially when Shizuma jabbed him in the side. “Sorry.”

“No, we just haven’t been as active recently,” Heath said. “We lost a lot of members.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Reiji said. The food arrived and they tried to make a little small talk in-between absolutely demolishing their meals. Tasuku, Kaede, and Shizuma looked a little disgusted, while Asuma just laughed.

“I’m guessing it’s been a while since you guys have had a great meal, huh?” Asuma asked.

“Yeah, these are delicious,” Hozumi said, holding up a bun.

“Oh a fried noodle bun, those are Reiji’s favorite. We actually got those from a bakery in a nearby town.”

“Yagami Bakery,” Riku said.

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Shizuma said. “Are you from there?”

“Yeah, and my family owns Yagami Bakery,” Riku said. Reiji became jealous. He wished he could trade lives with Riku. Everyone always wants to be royalty, right? Before he could voice these opinions out loud, Bantaro spoke up.

“Wasn’t there a really great swordsman named something Yagami?”

“Yeah!” Kaede said. “There always was that guy that did quests with,” his voice took on a dreamy-like tone, “Kyosuke.”

“That was my brother, Tomoe,” Riku said solemnly. “He died a year ago.”

“That’s terrible, I’m sorry for your loss,” Shizuma said sympathetically. He couldn’t imagine if his brother died.

“So are you as good as him?” Tasuku asked, not seeming to care it was a sensitive subject.

“Tasuku!” Shizuma hissed.

“What?”

“That’s rude!” Tasuku got the hint and dropped the question, going back to his meal. After a while dinner was over and everyone was escorted back to their rooms. Reiji told Takeru he enjoyed talking to him and he hoped they would meet up again.

“That was so cool!” Ayumu and Hozumi squealed. “We actually got to talk to the prince!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Heath said, though he was secretly amazed as well. “I think we better turn in early tonight, we want to be well rested for tomorrow. Everyone agreed and settled down for bed.

Riku wasn’t going to get a good sleep though, he could all ready tell. His head was filled with thoughts of Tomoe and he thought back to the King’s speech. He could have sworn he saw Tomoe, but Tomoe was dead, right?

XxX

                “Never expected to see you here.”

“With the King’s mission going on, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Are you sure that’s why you’re here? He must be here. You’re still following him, aren’t you?”

“I know you can take care of yourself. He can’t.”

“…”

“So why are you here?”

“My guild is here to participate in the mission.”

“Your guild?”

“Kakyoin Guild.”

“I’ve never heard of them.”

“It was just formed recently out with a bunch of highly skilled mercenaries.”

“I see.”

“You should join us.”

“…”

“I know you can’t make a decision right away, but think about it, okay? You know how to get in touch with me. Let me know if you decide to join.”

“Where are you going?”

“Back to the castle, dinner’s probably over.”

“You didn’t go?”

“No, I wanted to come see you.”

“Oh…”

“You sound disappointed.”

“No.”

“…”

“…”

“Okay then. I’ll see you, Kyosuke.”

“Yeah, bye, Tomoe."


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a long time since this story has been updated! Sorry about that!  
> I hope you guys enjoy!
> 
> This chapter is dedicated to eiji hanamiyo and nya since they wanted this chapter. I hope you guys like it.

Tomorrow morning came quickly for the group. The day of the King’s trial had arrived. Takeru was the first one up, too excited to stay in bed for any longer. He peered outside and saw that the sun had only just began to peak above the horizon. Glancing over to see Riku and Ayumu still sleeping soundly in their sleeping bags, Takeru decided it would be best if he left as not to disturb them. Untangling himself from his sleeping bag, trying to make as little noise as possible, Takeru got up and headed towards the door.

Unsure if he was actually allowed to leave the room provided for them, Takeru cautiously opened the door to the hallway. There were a few guards stationed periodically throughout the hall, and one glanced at him but made no move to stop him from leaving. Takeru took that as a sign that he was allowed to wander about.

Stepping from the open doorway, Takeru headed down the hall. He wasn’t sure which way to go or even where he wanted to end up. After only a moment of deliberation, Takeru decided he would try and locate an indoor training area or the outside courtyard the Saisei Knights used for training. Still having no idea of which direction he should be going, he decided to let his feet go where they wanted.

Eventually, after going in what apparently was a circle for the third time, a guard came forward. “I didn’t want to intrude or bother you, but you look like you need some help getting to where you are going.” Takeru nodded.

“I want to go train,” he explained. The guard smiled.

“The castle has many places to do so! What exactly are you looking for?”

“An archery range,” Takeru said. The guard was more than happy to give Takeru detailed instructions on how to get to Saisei’s large outdoor shooting range. Takeru tried his best to follow the instructions and was pleased when he made it to two large double doors that lead to the outside courtyard. Scanning his surroundings, he saw the field where the Saisei knights practiced and beyond that an area where some targets were set up.

Very few people were up at this hour. There were a few knights as well as a few guild members practicing with their swords and sparring against each other. Takeru could recognize a majority of the guild emblems and noted some of the best guilds were here to participate. It was to be expected. Heading around the field to get to the shooting range, Takeru had to jump out of the way of a couple of rowdy Tsubakimachi Guild members who were sparring with each other. The shooting range was empty, so Takeru picked up one of the provided bows, the one that most matched his in size, and then tested the string and his grip on it. Not finding it to be the most satisfactory, Takeru tried a couple more before coming to one he liked.

Takeru took a deep breath before aiming at the first target with the bow. The arrows provided were different that normal arrows. They had a weird piece of rubbery material at the end that would stick to the target rather than pierce it. This would allow both the arrow and the target to be reused, as neither would get damaged with the impact.

A few warm up shots were fired, Takeru getting a feel for the bow and unusual arrows, and then Takeru fired a barrage of five arrows straight at the center of the target. One hit close to dead center, while three fit the two rings around the center. The last arrow was near the edge of the target. Takeru grimaced knowing that it wasn’t good enough. Resolving to stay until he got all five in the center, Takeru took aim once more.

XxX

Riku awoke slowly feeling something jabbing into his side. He sat up lethargically and yawned. Looking to his right, he could see what was causing him the pain that had woken him up this morning. Ayumu had moved around a lot in his sleep and was now out of his sleeping bag and laying perpendicular to Riku. His feet had been stabbing into Riku’s side.

Riku groaned, still feeling a little sleepy, but hungry at the same time. He also had to use the bathroom. There was a small bathroom provided in the room they were staying, so he got up and headed in. After finishing up in there, Riku decided to go out in search of breakfast. Leaving the room, he headed down the main hall, trying to follow the route to the dining hall that they used last night.

“I think I remember seeing this vase, and I think we took a right here,” Riku pondered aloud to himself. He didn’t see any sort of opening though, which confused him. Taking a closer look, Riku saw part of the wall had a seam on it. “It must be some type of shortcut!” Riku said triumphantly. He looked around for a way to open up the shortcut, but found nothing.

Scrutinizing the wall further yielded no results. Riku decided that it was a lost cause and that he should just find a different route to breakfast. “Wait, I have one more idea,” Riku started, he turned towards the vase, “what if I move it! It could be the switch for the door!” Excited about his new idea, Riku picked up the vase and examined it. It didn’t seem to have any sort of lever on it at all. Riku sighed; disappointed that it didn’t work either. He was about to set the vase back down, but encountered a problem.

“Which table did I take it from again?” Riku asked, looking at two identical tables that both were void of decoration. All of the other tables in the hall had some type of decoration on them, whether it was a fancy vase, a flower pot, or some type of fancy jewel in a case. There was neither rhyme nor reason to the way it was set up, so Riku had no clues to go off of there.

Riku’s stomach growled. Glancing around to make sure no one was there, Riku reached a decision. “You know what, I’m too hungry to be bothered with this anymore,” Riku placed the vase carefully back onto the table to his right. He heard a click and the wall that lead to the dining hall opened up for Riku. “Yes!” Riku exclaimed. He was happy breakfast was right around the corner. “I figured it out!” He didn’t really know what he did to figure it out, but it opened just the same. Maybe it only opened when breakfast was ready?

Without really caring to stay behind and ponder any longer, Riku headed into the hallway, eager for something to eat. If he would have stayed behind a little longer, or been a little more observant, he would have noticed the figure that had been watching. The same figure that picked up the vase and placed it on the table to the left.

XxX

Ayumu never was one for getting up early, but he was cold, and his back was starting to hurt from lying at an uncomfortable angle for too long. Sitting up, the first thing he noticed was Riku and Takeru’s sleeping bags were empty. He glanced at both beds and confirmed that Nana, Hozumi, and Heath were still in the room.

“They must have gone to get breakfast together,” Ayumu said, thinking logically. He stretched and got up, planning his sneak attack on Hozumi. Hozumi had wedged himself halfway under Heath, likely looking for warmth, so the attack would have to be planned carefully as to not wake up Heath. Hozumi was a fairly heavy sleeper, so Ayumu knew he could get away with moving him a little bit before he woke up.

He reached out and grasped Hozumi’s left arm, the one that wasn’t hidden under Heath, and pulled. Hozumi didn’t budge an inch, but did groan a little. Realizing that this strategy would not work, Ayumu had to rethink his plan. Heath was a heavier sleeper than Hozumi, so maybe he would be able to roll him off. Ayumu carefully climbed onto the bed. He rammed his shoulder into Heath, throwing his whole body weight into it. Grunting with the effort, Ayumu didn’t even feel the man budge. He tried pushing harder but to no avail. He went to push again, not feeling him move for the first few seconds, but then the man rolled from his side onto his back, exposing Hozumi’s prone form.

Now that Hozumi was free, Ayumu climbed on top of him, knees on either side of his stomach. Hozumi grumbled in his sleep, reaching out for a blanket. Ayumu smirked with sadistic glee. He brought his fingers down mercilessly onto Hozumi’s side. The blonde boy beneath him shrieked loudly, awakening almost immediately.

A moment of struggle ensued. Hozumi finally freed himself, as a practitioner of martial arts he had learned to get out of his fair share of holds. Once free, Hozumi launched a counter assault against Ayumu. Peals of laughter escaped from Ayumu’s throat as he was brutally assaulted by Hozumi’s fingers. Hozumi wasn’t playing around. He had skipped the sides all together and went straight for the core—the foot.

“I concede! I concede!” Ayumu called out between his laughter. It was only then that Hozumi stilled his assault.

“I can’t believe you ambushed me like that,” Hozumi said, pouting. “I thought I was safe with the fortress I created.”

“For—ah! Yes, I was able to smash through that fortress using my brute strength.” Ayumu said. He took a moment to realize the fortress Hozumi spoke of was Heath. Hozumi laughed.

“I’m surprised you were able to move him, he’s heavy when he’s dead asleep,”

“I’m surprised too! I almost wasn’t able to,” Ayumu admitted. The two sat in silence for a while, before Hozumi’s stomach growled.

“We should get something to eat,” Hozumi said, Ayumu agreed.

“I think that Takeru and Riku already left to go get breakfast,” Ayumu said. “Neither one was here when I woke up.” Hozumi looked to the empty sleeping bags on the floor between the beds then looked up to the desk and chair that were in the room. The night before they had all placed their bags on the desk and chair, and got out everything they would need this morning, so it would be ready for them today.

“I hope not,” Hozumi said with a slight grimace, “because neither of them changed out of their pajamas!”

XxX

Tasuku liked to think he was a relatively reasonable guy. He had been stuck sleeping on the floor since Prince Reiji’s sparring coach only had one bed in his room. That was fine. It was better than sleeping outside. Even when the snoring started it was fine. Even when the sleep talking started it was fine. Even when the people across the hall started partying it was fine. Even when the hall guards started drinking and having bird call contests it was fine. Even when a baby started crying halfway through the night it was fine. Even when he had just gotten to sleep and it started to rain and the window that he was sleeping under was open it was fine. Even when his temporary roommate began sleepwalking it was fine. But after only having a couple hours of sleep and he could hear people down the hall screaming and laughing it was not fine.

Actually, he was pretty sure it was not fine before that.

Finally deciding to forgo sleep, Tasuku got up and got ready for the day. After spending 30 minutes on his hair, he finally determined himself presentable. The trial did not start until midday, so seeing as the sun was still pretty low in the sky, he had time for breakfast. Hoping that breakfast would wake him up a little bit, he headed straight for the dining room, ignoring the jeers the knights would give him.

It was still fairly early and many people liked to get some training in before breakfast. Tasuku knew that it was important to eat before you train, which is partially why he was superior to those other knights. He recognized a few of the knights that he used to train with and didn’t particularly want to sit near them, knowing he would be criticized on every little thing he did, even though it was just eating, so he headed for the opposite end of the table where a few members from various guilds were sitting.

It was a little unnerving getting treated like a guest, and he was not used to the servants waiting on him. As soon as he sat down, one of the butlers nearby had a plate sat down in front of him within seconds. He thanked the man and began eating. Next to him was a member of Mihashi’s Guild, only recognizable by the logo on his shirt. The Mihashi Guild wasn’t one of the biggest or strongest guilds present, but they did take on a lot of quests.

The two sitting across from him were easily recognizable as they were part of the guild that Prince Reiji had sat down next to last night at dinner. Though he may not remember their names, he easily remembered their faces.

“He looks so grumpy this morning!” the blonde haired one whispered to his green-haired friend. Said friend nodded and whispered back.

“It doesn’t look like he got much sleep. Do you think it’s because he was working on the top secret mission?” Tasuku wanted to retort at this moment, as he had no idea what the mission was, like the rest of them, but the blonde spoke too quickly.

“No, he was working on his own personal top secret mission. Someone has to make sure Prince Reiji sleeps well at night, so he had to remove the peas from under his mattress.” That got the green-haired boy laughing. The blonde boy soon joined in, bringing the attention of the other people sat at the table.

Tasuku however was not amused. He recognized that laughter. His eye twitched. It was going to be a long day.

XxX

Shizuma was also not having the best of mornings. Normally he woke up before Reiji to help the prince get ready for the day. He usually woke up naturally and felt refreshed, but that was not to be this morning. Something cold, smelly, and a little slimy touched his face.

Shizuma shrieked, flying up immediately. The room was dark, but it only took his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. Placing one hand on his frantically beating heart, he looked around the room for what awoke him from his slumber. He did not see anything. He moved his hand to his cheek and felt wet. It was almost like somebody had lic—

“SQUEAL!” Shizuma jumped at the sudden noise right next to his ear. He flew out of bed and grabbed his pole. On the bed, lying there innocently was Kaede’s pet boar, Nugget. He relaxed a little knowing that there wasn’t some scary intruder in his room. He set the pole back down next to his bed and slowly approached the boar.

“There, there, that’s a good little Nugget,” Shizuma said, still afraid it might try something since Kaede wasn’t there to stop him. Nugget suddenly charged at Shizuma, butting his head against Shizuma’s legs like a cat. Shizuma bit back a scream, but reached down towards Nugget.

“Come on, let’s go find Kaede,” Shizuma soothed. The little boar ran towards the door, waiting patiently for Shizuma to open it. Shizuma ran a hand through his hair. It was a bit of a tangled mess. “Just give me one second.” Shizuma headed to his vanity to pick up his hair brush and work it through his hair. Nugget did not seem happy and let out a displeased grunt, doing a little dance by the door.

“Calm down, just one second,” Shizuma sighed, he hated the gross feeling in his mouth when he hadn’t brushed his teeth yet and it wouldn’t be enjoyable for other people to be around him when he had bad breath. “I just need to brush my teeth.” Another displeased grunt. “It’s important!” Shizuma begged. The boar seemed to roll its eyes but sighed nonetheless. Shizuma took this as a sign to continue. After brushing his teeth, and washing his face in the bathroom, Shizuma finally returned to the main part of his bedroom.

Looking at his reflection in the mirror, Shizuma realized he could not leave the room yet. Nugget was desperately rubbing himself against the door and making grunts at Shizuma. “Sorry, Nugget, I have to change my clothes!” Nugget grunted loudly and his face took an angry expression. “It wouldn’t be proper for me to leave in my pajamas!” Shizuma justified to the boar. “Wait,” Shizuma said, “Why am I justifying myself to a boar?” He shrugged and changed his clothes.

“All right Nugget, now I am ready to—oh!” Shizuma wished he would have just stayed in his pajamas.

XxX

Since Bantaro, the last member of Saisei Guild, did not have a room in the castle (unless you counted the dungeon), Asuma had taken it upon himself to invite him to his room. Since his brother was always a worrywart and never left Asuma’s side when Asuma was sick, they had invested in a spare futon for Shizuma to use during those times. Luckily for Bantaro, it meant he had a bed for the night.

The morning of the trial, Asuma had the wonderful surprise of waking up to his room having been ransacked. “Are you serious?” he asked himself calmly. He took a deep breath in and then out. All of his things were gone. Even the little things, like the notebook he wrote poems in, and the pretty feather pen Reiji had gotten him for his birthday.

He opened up a door of his dresser and let out a small cry. It was empty. “This was such a bad idea,” Asuma groaned, sinking to the floor. It was hard for him to comprehend that it had really happened. “This is what we get for trusting a thief, I guess.” Tears welled up in Asuma’s eyes. What was he going to tell Shizuma and Reiji? After this the two of them would think that he was incapable of handling himself. Not only that, but they would also be down a guild member.

“What am I going to do?” Asuma asked himself, allowing the tears to fall from his eyes.

XxX

Reiji was having an unusual morning. Shizuma hadn’t come to wake him up and help him get ready, so one of the maids that his father employed had woken him up and gotten a nearby butler to help him get ready for the morning. He would’ve gone to Shizuma’s room to check on him, but he was already running late to breakfast.

After he had gotten ready for the day, he was briskly rushed out of his room and down the hall to have breakfast with his father. They were in a smaller, more private dining room, as just the two of them would be having breakfast together this morning.

“Reiji, you are running a little behind this morning,” his father commented. Reiji winced at the cold tone of his voice.

“I woke up a little later than normal,” Reiji admitted, but left out the part about Shizuma as he didn’t want his father to believe that he depended on him too much.

“I see,” commenting no further, his father quickly changed topics, “The trial is this afternoon.”

“Yes, I am very excited to see how the guild I put together will perform,” Reiji stated seriously. He knew he had taken quite a gamble putting together his team. None of the members had previously been in guilds, so it was going to be interesting to see how they adjusted. Out of all the members, Reiji knew the only two with real combat experience were Tasuku…and Shizuma. He grimaced. Now was not the time to think about that.

“I hope you know that just because you are my son, I am not going to go easy on you. If you think that you are just going to get a free pass to participate in this mission, think again.”

“I know father, I have trained hard, especially these past few days,” Reiji said. Yesterday was the only day that they had the whole guild together to train, but fortunately their synergy together seemed to be great.

“I know you have. I’ve been watching,” King Suwa said, “I must say, your skills have improved my son,” he admitted.

“Thank you father, I have—”

“But,” the King bellowed, quieting what Reiji was about to say, “I still don’t think you have what it takes. If you want to prove to me that you are serious, I want your guild to be the first one to complete the trial today.”

“Father you can’t be serious! That was not the—”

“Silence! As the King I have spoken. If you do not think your guild capable you are free to withdraw from the trial.” Reiji remained silent. The King’s expression softened. “I just want to make sure you are truly ready. I don’t want my only son to never come back to me. You are still young, and there are plenty of men in the Saisei Guild that could handle this challenge. I know you want to experience the world, but this is not the way to go about it.”

“Then I will show you today father. The Saisei Guild team I have created has what it takes.” Reiji got up, not really hungry anymore, but anxious. Anxious to train with his team and beat that trial.

“If that is your final decision, then so be it. It may be foolhardy, and I am sure you will regret it later, but I see there is nothing I can do now to change your mind.”

“Thank you father!”

XxX

Kaede was not having the best of mornings. Normally he woke up before his father to help him get his papers and schedule ready for the day. He usually woke up when Nugget woke up, but that was not to be this morning. Something warm, minty, and not that slimy touched his face.

Kaede shrieked, flying up immediately. The room was mostly dark; his eyes were already adjusted to the darkness. He put a hand on his frantically beating heart, and he looked around the room for what awoke him from his slumber. He did not see anything. He moved his hand to his cheek and felt wet. It was almost like Nugget had lic—

“NYA!” Kaede jumped at the sudden noise right next to his ear. He flew out of bed and grabbed his whip. On the bed, lying there innocently was Bantaro. He relaxed a little knowing that there wasn’t some scary intruder in his room. He set the whip back down on his nightstand.

“Bantaro!” Kaede scolded. “You scared me!”

“Nya-ha-ha,” Bantaro laughed. “That was the point, Mei-chan!” Kaede finally calmed down enough to notice the state of his room. There were some bags strewn about.

“Bantaro,” (“Ban-chan,” Bantaro corrected, Kaede ignored him for now) “why are there these bags in my room?”

“Oh those? I was just packing up.”

“Packing what up?”

“Everyone’s things! We leave today after the labyrinth, so I figured we should pack before!” Kaede had to agree that it was a smart idea, but something was still bothering him.

“But that’s not even mine!” Kaede cried, pointing to a stack of bags.

“Oh, I know! That’s me and Sumacchi’s stuff!”

“I see,” Kaede said. He looked around the room, remembering that he had been woken up by Bantaro and not Nugget. Nugget wasn’t in his bed, and he didn’t see him anywhere else in the room. That was concerning as Nugget usually woke him up around this time because he needed to go out. “Where is Nugget?”

“Oh, he wanted to leave, so I let him out—”

“You what!?” Kaede shrieked.

“—and I followed him!” Bantaro quickly finished as to not worry Kaede, “to Oshizu’s room. He went in there and laid down next to Oshizu, so it’s nothing to worry about.”

“Oh. Well I hope he took him out… we should probably go check on him.”

“Great! I have to pack Oshizu’s things next anyway!”

XxX

Heath woke up to an empty room. Confused and disoriented, Heath sat up quickly. None of his guild members were present in the room. Worried something went wrong, Heath quickly got dressed. There was no note present in the room saying they headed out anywhere, so Heath quickly got nervous.

“I shouldn’t panic,” Heath told himself. “Maybe they got hungry.” The rest of the group, especially the two youngest boys, always seemed to be hungry. Knowing that is where he should start, Heath headed out to go find the dining hall. Luckily for him, several other guilds seemed to be headed the same way. Heath got a little jealous when he noticed that some guilds had all six of their members together.

“It’ll be fine,” Heath muttered to himself. As he headed to the dining hall he noticed a blonde-haired guy that seemed to be panicking. He didn’t look like he was from a guild, but he did seem to be looking for something or someone. Just like Heath. Heath took pity on the guy.

“Excuse me,” Heath said to the guy. The guy looked up and seemed relieved.

“Heath! From Honan! You can help me right? We can even make this an official request, just please help me and please keep this a secret!” Heath was puzzled. He didn’t know his name was well known among the public. Apparently this guy felt comfortable to trust him with something hush-hush though.

“Yeah, sure, just tell me what I can do,” Heath said confidently.

“Okay, so remember Ban-chan, from last night?” Heath shook his head. “Bantaro, from Saisei, remember?”

“Oh,” Heath said aloud. Boy did he remember him. That guy yammered on and on with Ayumu and Hozumi. He gave Heath a bit of a headache. “Yeah, remember him for sure.”

“Okay, so well, I’m looking for him.” Heath did not really know why it had to be top secret, but figured he may as well go for it. Maybe the guy wanted an autograph?

“So you want me to find him and bring him to you?” Heath confirmed.

“Yes! I swear, you can have a great reward, just don’t let Reiji and Shizuma find out!” This guy must have been pretty important if he could get away with calling the prince by his name without a title. Too bad Heath had no idea who he was.

“You got it,” Heath said.

“You are a lifesaver!” And with that, the guy took off. Heath had no idea how he was going to find him again, especially since he didn’t have a name to go by. Deciding that he would look for Bantaro as he looked for his other teammates, Heath headed into the dining room.

Unfortunately for him, none of them were in there. After grabbing an apple and a slice of toast, Heath left the hall. His next destination was the training area. Saisei’s outdoor training yard was large, and at this time it was packed with guilds getting in last minute practice. As Heath weaved his way between people, he searched the crowd for any sign of his teammates.

Just as he was about to give up and search somewhere else, he spotted Takeru at the shooting range, just wearing pajamas. “Takeru!” he shouted to the boy. Takeru’s head snapped up and he looked surprised. Heath made his way over to Takeru.

“What time is it?” Takeru asked seeming surprised by the amount of people present. He must have gotten absorbed into his own little world while training.

“It’s nearing midday,” Heath said. “Where’s everyone else?” Takeru shrugged. “Well we have to find them before the trial starts.”

“I’ll help look,” Takeru said, putting away his borrowed bow.

“Okay, we’ll meet back in the room for a last minute briefing before the trial,” Heath said. Takeru nodded and began to walk away. “Oh and if you see Bantaro, let me know!” Takeru looked confused but nodded anyway. That kid sure didn’t sweat the details.

“Now back to my search.” Heath went back inside to see if he could find any of the rest of his team. He determined that stopping back in their room would be the next course of action. There is a chance that someone returned while he was gone.

XxX

Nana was having a fantastic morning. She slept in, helped Ayumu roll over Heath, and then went to grab some breakfast. On her way to the dining hall she smelt some delicious pancakes, and went to check it out. As it turned out, Ichijyokan was celebrating the morning with some pancakes, and they were kind enough to invite her for some.

“So, you are part of the newly revived Honan guild?” Yuri asked her, sizing her up. He was currently enjoying a chinchilla-shaped pancake.

“Yup!” she chirped cheerily while munching on her delicious panda-shaped pancake. Arata had a real talent.

“Have you guys done any tough quests recently?” Kiyoto asked curiously as he ate his armadillo-shaped pancake. He was also eying her, probably realizing just how tough she was. She paused to think about the question. Had they even done any quests?

“They’ve done nothing,” Shiki answered for her, picking at his dugong-shaped pancake. Shishibara chewed his tapir-shaped pancake thoughtfully. Arata had just finished making a pancake for himself, Nana got up to take a closer look at the cute animal he made; it was a cute ermine-shaped pancake!

Arata seemed a little self-conscious of her admiring his cute pancake, so she quickly sat back down. “Sorry, you just make the cutest little animals!” The Ichijyokan Guild exchanged confused looks. Arata sighed. He tried to make them round, he really did! He just wasn’t the best at pouring the batter in.

“Anyway,” Kiyoto said, obviously trying to change the subject, “how do you think you guys will do today?”

“If they are even all guys,” Tetsu mumbled eating his budgerigar-shaped pancake.

“Huh?” Nana asked not catching Tetsu’s statement.

“He said if you even all are—” Kiyoto was cut off by the door being pushed open and a relieved looking Heath coming in.

“There you are Nana; I’ve been looking all over for you!” Nana got up.

“Looks like I’ve been found. Sorry to cut this chat short. Thanks for inviting me for breakfast!” Nana shoved the last of her cute pancake into her mouth and skipped to the door. “Let’s go, Heath.”

Ichijyokan could only wonder how that guild thought they had a chance.

XxX

Takeru had located the missing Ayumu and Hozumi chatting it up with Saisei. Shizuma seemed a little distraught this morning and Kaede kept apologizing to him. Bantaro was laughing with Ayumu and Hozumi at Asuma, but Takeru didn’t really know what was going on so he didn’t get it. Tasuku was glaring at Hozumi and Ayumu, but Takeru didn’t really know what that was about either. Prince Reiji was the only one in the group that seemed like his normal self, but he didn’t seem to know what was going on with the rest of his team either.

After goodbyes and good lucks were said, the three members of Honan headed back to their room. Ayumu and Hozumi were still having a good laugh about Asuma apparently thinking that Bantaro stole all his belongings, and asking Heath to track him down, but Takeru tuned it out mostly. He still didn’t get it.

They got back to their room to find Heath and Nana waiting for them. “Is Riku with you guys?” Nana asked worriedly

“No, did you guys not find him?”

“No,” Nana said, looking scared. “We searched everywhere.”

“We asked around too,” said Heath. “Nobody has seen him… Damn, I wonder where he got off to. The five of them stood there in silence. Where was Riku?

XxX

“Hello! Anybody hear me! Hello!” Riku let out a nervous breath. This did not seem to be a shortcut to breakfast.


End file.
